Singer Fantasia and Biloxi Sororities Team Up Against Teen Pregnancy
Making teen pregnancy prevention real in Mississippi is the main reason for holding the Saving Our Sisters Summit and Fantasia concert, organizers said on Saturday.
The all-day event held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum drew thousands of teens, parents, grandparents, and community leaders.
Nearly 3,500 participated in the second annual Saving Our Sisters, which featured a concert by 2004 “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino and teen pregnancy workshops that focused on how to dress, hygiene, how to behave like a lady, sexually transmitted diseases and how to say “no.”
“There were children here today as young as six years old,” said Danielle Jewett, one of the event organizers.
“We took anonymous surveys during the sessions today and the results showed us that some kids as young as 10 years old are having sex. More than 2,000 attended our first event held last year and we knew we had to keep up the fight against teen pregnancy and keep having this event.”
Radio station WJZD-94.5 teamed up with Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, And Zeta Phi Beta sororities to host the summit and concert in an effort to try to reverse high teen pregnancy trends, to discourage teen pregnancies, and to allow a platform to discuss all options of prevention.
“The plague that has taken over Mississippi called teen pregnancy is why the radio station got involved,” said station representative Mike Daniels.
“The state of Mississippi seems to rank the highest in all the worse categories and the lowest in the best categories and we have to stop this plague now.”
Before the evening concert Fantasia gave an emotional speech to the thousands of teens about the things they do not want to do as teenagers.
“Fantasia is a role model for these kids. She spoke about how much she missed in high school by getting pregnant at a young age,” said Jewett.
“Tasia,” as her fans call her, was only 19 when people all across the country voted her the new American Idol.
Now she tells her story across the country and has written a tell-all autobiography, “Life is Not a Fairy Tale,” describing a life that has had more than its share of challenges, such as having a baby out of wedlock at 17.
In January, the U.S. Center For Disease Control announced that Mississippi has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, with rates 60 percent above the national average.
