The primary goal of the project is to develop an intervention process that would lower chlamydia infection rates of 15-24 year olds in Stanislaus County. Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) infecting over 1000 people in Stanislaus County each year.

A major objective of the grant is to develop community partnerships and to observe the process that is used to develop interventions.

The process will be a community partnership between HSA, Haven Women's Center, Teen Life Challenge and Stanislaus Community Assistance Project. The collaborative has approximately six adults and six 15-24 year olds participating. The collaborative is just beginning their work.

In the research phase, young adults are leading meetings, learning leadership skills, and conducting research on the local community assets and epidemiological data on Chlamydia in Stanislaus County. Data collected will help to develop an intervention that will tackle chlamydia. Both young adults and adults on the collaborative will jointly decide on the intervention that will be implemented based upon research findings.

The young adult core group meets weekly, while the entire collaborative meets the last Thursday of the month from 3:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. The next meeting is February 27, 2003 at Teen Life Challenge, 701 I street, Modesto.

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) is an outpatient medical system with 10 medical offices located throughout Stanislaus County. The HSA operates the Public Health Department, an Urgent Care Center and multiple programs serving over 500,000 patients and clients each year in Stanislaus County. The HSA also is in local partnerships for the MOMobile project and the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency Program. The HSA has extensive community health information available at its web site www.hsahealth.org