Asking for a Friend
Nina Robinson/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment
Stigma-free answers to US teens’ sex, relationship, and identity questions, with direct pathways to care.
Project:
Asking for a Friend
Location:
USA
Funders:
Lefkofsky Family Foundation
Los Angeles County - Essential Access
California Wellness Foundation
Category:
Sexual & Reproductive Health
HIV/AIDS
Challenge
Despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, young people in the US aren’t getting the real-world information and support they need to make their own sexual and mental health decisions.
Even when young people know what they need, getting it is a different problem entirely. Most don't know their rights to access reproductive health services. Fear of parents finding out is the single largest barrier to care, as well as cost, confidentiality, insurance confusion, and discrimination compound for low-income youth, youth of colour, and LGBTQ+ young people. In the post-Roe landscape, restrictive and inconsistent state policies have made access to contraception, abortion, and preventive care even harder to navigate.
Innovation
Asking for a Friend isa digital platform designed with more than 300 young people that helps youth navigate sexual and reproductive health decisions with clarity, privacy, and direct pathways to care.
Asking for a Friend was co-designed with young people, many from LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color. The platform works in three ways:
Decision support: An interactive tool that functions like a virtual counselor, walking young people step by step through their most pressing sexual health concerns in concise, low-jargon language.
Service wayfinding: A sexual health service finder that directs young people to the resources they need, while addressing the most common access challenges they face around confidentiality and affordability.
FAQs: A library of clear, practical answers to common questions, designed to help young people understand their options and make informed decisions without judgment.
What’s next
After launching in California, Asking for a Friend is aiming to broaden access to more young people throughout the United States. This next phase builds on early learnings from the pilot and aims to adapt the platform to different legal, cultural, and service delivery contexts across the country.
YLabs is looking for co-funding partners to support the national launch of Asking for a Friend. If you're interested in supporting innovations in reproductive healthcare for young people in the US, let's connect.
