Member Spotlight: John Brice

Name: John Brice
Position: Sex Educator
Degree: BA in English and Psychology from East Carolina University; MPH in progress from Capella University
Hometown: Pittsboro, NC
Favorite Part of Jacksonville: The city at night when it's all lit up
Currently Listening To: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Soundtrack

Here at the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition one of my service duties is to implement a comprehensive sex education program with middle and high school students located in low-income apartment complexes in Jacksonville. The curriculum, called “4Me”, was created by the Medical College of Wisconsin Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR). The program seeks to supplement abstinence-based education programs, which is the standard in most Florida school systems, and shed light on STI’s, healthy sexual behaviors, and need for contraceptive information and expertise. By dispelling myths that many teens have heard, the “sex talk” becomes more informal, yet informative. The encouragement of discussion instead of a one-sided lecture allows students to become more involved in their learning process.

John teaching comprehensive sex education
to a group of students

Another program that is currently in the development to implementation stage are the co-parenting and father-only classes that I host in service sites like the Baker County Health Department, Baker County Sheriff’s Complex, Operation New Hope, and Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless. By implementing positive parenting classes in Duval and Baker County, the goal is to decrease the number of father-absent homes in Northeast Florida and to improve self-esteem, self-worth, and knowledge of health and relationship issues with parents in regards to their families. Using curriculums implemented by the National Fatherhood Initiative, these programs called “Inside/Out Dad” and “24/7 Dad” will prove successful in these two communities and increase parent/parent and parent/child relationships.

I feel that my time in North Florida Health Corps will prove to be a success and I look forward to a second term in AmeriCorps as well!

John Brice, MPH(c), EMT-I