It’s okay. You can say it.
In October, the Real Life. Real Talk.^® Coalition sponsored the month-long event "It’s okay. You can say it." The goal was to increase open and honest dialogue about sexual health issues by inviting a variety of participants — community members, local government leaders, celebrities, and business owners — to submit their own stories through postcards and videos and online.  What do you wish someone had told YOU about sex?

Is your school's PTO hosting a Sex Ed for Parents program? PTO/A groups in the Greater-Portland area - Portland, South Portland, Falmouth, Westbrook, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough - are welcome to contact Real Life. Real Talk. to schedule Sex Ed for Parents programs.

Want to know more about your kids' reality? Bring SexEd for Parents to a home or group near you!Real Life. Real Talk. is offering House Parties, Lunch'n Learns, and customized Sex Ed for Parents workshops for your group or business.  Contact us for more information or to schedule a program.  Because smart parenting has never been more important.    

Host a Real Life. Real Talk. Parent House Party!
Parents who have attended Real Life. Real Talk. events say that they value the opportunity to talk with each other about how to raise sexually healthy teens in today's culture.  After all, it's difficult to find the time and the place to have these important conversations.  So here's the deal - you invite your friends over, and Real Life. Real Talk.will supply a trained and knowledgeable facilitator to help start the conversation and answer questions.  What could be better than this?  Good friends, food, and conversation about sexuality!  For more information or to host a house party, contact us.

March 2007 was Real Life. Real Talk. Month in Portland!

You the Man – Free public performance in Portland, ME
by Add Verb Productions, Maine Business, October 22, 2008

Sex, Lies, and Audiotape - report on the It's okay. You can say it. campaign
by Josie Huang, MPBN Maine, October 2008

Time to have that sex talk - on camera
by Bill Nemitz, Portland Press Herald, October 2, 2008

Talking to our Children about Sexuality: an interview with Layne Gregory, Executive Director of Boys to Men
by Dr. Anne Hallward, Safe Space, WMPG Radio, July 8, 2008

Program Helps Parents Talk to Kids about Sex
by Keith Baldi, WMTW Channel 8 News, November 9, 2007

Real Life. Real Talk. on Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks
by Jennifer Rooks, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, orginally aired October 26, 2007 (Following "Elder Abuse in Maine)

Podcast: When Turtles Make Love
by Justin Ellis, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, October 17, 2007

Your Parents Did It Too
by Justin Ellis, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, October 10, 2007

Talking about 'the talk.'
by Justin Ellis, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, October 8, 2007

Young People and Sex: Parents, Can We Talk?
by Johanna Greenberg, Blunt Youth Radio, Portland, ME

Campaign urges parents to talk to teens about sex 
By Elbert Aull, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, February 27, 2007

Fearing that tough talk? Here's help
By Bill Nemitz, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, February 27, 2007

Slow + Steady — Talking About Sex — with a Turtle?
By Megan Grumbling, The Phoenix, February 28, 2007

Watch the When Turtles Make Love video created by the Maine Women's Fund.  Thanks to the MWF's New Girls' Fund for Social Change for helping to make this play possible. 

The Report from Maine
by Johanna Greenberg, Blunt Youth Radio Project, Portland, ME.  Aired on NPR's Justice Talking, July 2, 2007.  Johanna talks with peers about HPV and the new Guardasil vaccine. 

Add Verb Productions Arts and Education awakens community-based action and understanding of social issues through theatre, creative expression, and dialogue.  We develop and work with artists and activists to create programming and opportunities, primarily for youth, on socially relevant issues.

Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church
Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church is a growing community that transforms lives through the power of love.  We celebrate diversity, encourage spiritual growth, and foster social responsibility as we walk with care on this earth.  We empower our members to share their gifts to build a world of compassion, equality, and freedom.

Blunt Youth Radio Project
Founded in 1994, Blunt Youth Radio Project is a nationally award-winning, youth-produced, call-in radio program that airs Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. on University of Southern Maine's community radio station, WMPG.  Members of the program, from area high schools, Portland's Kennedy Park neighborhood, and the Long Creek Youth Development Center, work together to produce the weekly program.  Stories regularly air on National Public Radio and regional outlets around the country.  You can listen to our show live every Monday night at 7:30 p.m. on Portland's WMPG at 90.9 FM and 104.1 FM.

Boys to Men reduces interpersonal violence by offering programs that support the healthy development of adolescent boys, increase community awareness about their specific needs, and provide assistance and educational resources to boys as well as to those who help raise them.

The Cathedral Church of St. Luke
The mission of the Cathedral Church of St. Luke is to offer a Christian community of welcome, inclusion, and support through a ministry of faith and prayerful reflection, comfort, and shelter in times of trial or sorrow, and celebration of the grace and love of God and Christ.


The Children's Advocacy Council promotes the well-being of children and families and leads the community in preventing and addressing child abuse and neglect.  For nearly 30 years, the volunteer members of the CAC have worked diligently to promote public awareness of child abuse and neglect, provide education and training to the community, create parenting and family support, network within the community based on needs, and advocate for state agencies, businesses, and other organizations to create sound policies, programs, and environments that meet the needs of children and families.

City of Portland, Public Health Department, Student Health Centers
The Student Health Centers are sponsored by the City of Portland, Health & Human Services Department, Public Health Division.  Clinical services including primary care, preventive dental care, and mental health counseling are offered at six sites in Portland including Portland and Deering High, King Middle School, Reiche Community School, East End Community School, and the West School.  The centers are staffed by a team of professionals including physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and dental hygienists.  They are not intended to replace the services of a student's regular health care provider, but rather, work in partnership with them to enhance a student's access to care.  The goal is to help students succeed in school and in life by keeping them healthy, in school, and ready to learn.

Coffee By Design
Coffee By Design's mission is to educate people about specialty coffee and to provide them with the best-quality coffee beans available at our Micro Roastery and Coffeehouses in Portland, Maine. We take pride in our reputation for offering the highest-quality products at a fair price, as well as providing extraordinary service. Our goal is 100 percent customer satisfaction.

With roots dating back to 1874, Community Counseling Center is one of Maine's oldest and most comprehensive private, nonprofit family service agencies, making positive and lasting changes in the lives of over 6,000 individuals and families each year through prevention, education, treatment and wellness programs.  Community Counseling Center provides a safe haven to individuals and families throughout the entire lifespan and helps them build on their strengths and develop tools to cope with unexpected challenges, such as divorce, substance abuse, parenting a deaf child, readjusting after war, overcoming discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, or caring for an aged parent. Every person who walks through our doors receives the highest quality, evidence-based family services in an environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Community Television Network
The mission of CTN is to support, strengthen, and enrich community in Portland, Maine, and to assist its citizens and institutions in realizing their greatest potential through public access to electronic communications media.

Dala Consulting Group
The Dala Consulting Group is guided by the same principles that gave birth to the Dala Horse: expertise, combined with innovation, to transform resources into instruments of value and joy.  Working with nonprofits, foundations, and their leaders, The Dala Consulting Group provides expertise to help move agendas forward that improve our communities and the world around us.

Deb Landry - Author, Certified Parenting Coach
Deb Landry is the author of the bestselling, award winning children's book, Sticks Stones and Stumped and a Coach-Parenting™ certified coach specializing in social behavioral issues and awareness.  Deb has authored several interactive children's mentoring plays on social awareness behaviors and co-authored the Maine State Best Practices in Bullying and Harassment Prevention Manual.  She also co-authored, produced and directed the educational drug awareness film Ty.  She passionately shares her expertise with children, teachers and parents around the country through school visits, lectures, workshops, books, author visits, plays and her parent coaching practice. Deb and her husband Darrin co-founded Crossroads, a non profit after school organization that empowers youth through the performing arts, in which she is the Executive Director.

Hardy Girls Healthy Women (HGHW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and well-being of girls and women.  Our vision is that all girls and women experience equality, independence, and safety in their everyday lives.  To that end, our mission is to create opportunities, develop programs, and provide services that empower them.

Jamileh - Authentic Arabic Belly Dance Instruction and Performance
"Whenever a little girl ran to the dancers in the middle of the room and started dancing, the faces of the older women lit up, they laughed loudly, for life had taken on a new rhythm, a rhythm that was before us and would continue after we had gone…Yet when an old woman got up to dance, suddenly, something that was there could not be expressed in words – a gift, a woman’s prayer filled the room, borne by the subtle, nearly wise movements of one who stood far ahead of us in the long chain of women." – Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi from Grandmother’s Secrets

In the Middle East, dance is a way of life. It is not something reserved only for parties or shows; it is an integral part of everyday activity. Many in the Middle East dance from the time they can walk, or even earlier since many mothers dance while their babies are in their wombs. We don’t start dancing; we stop dancing to do other things!

Jeanne Handy Designs - Interior Styling and Design
What’s your style? At Jeanne Handy Designs our goal is to first help you answer this question and then successfully implement your answer throughout your home or business. During her 10 plus years in the business, Jeanne has earned and enjoys the reputation of being a designer who “listens and really hears” what her clients have to say, is “patient and non-threatening” in her approach and is “respectful of schedules and budgets.” We are a full service design company with the ability to do as much or as little as you desire, from color consultations to whole house renovations. We are proud to work with the finest architects, contractors and subcontractors in the business. We look forward to working with you.

Kidz 'n Maine

Maine Medical Center, the largest hospital in Maine, is the premier referral hospital for Maine and northern New England.  Located in Portland, the 606-bed facility is both a teaching hospital and an active research center, providing comprehensive services in all medical specialties.  MMC prides itself on offering the latest innovations in technology, delivered by dedicated, compassionate caregivers. 

The MaineHealth Learning Resource Centers provide patients and members of the community with easy access to quality health information and educational resources so they can enjoy healthier lives.  With three convenient locations (Scarborough, Falmouth, and Portland) each center has a free lending library of books, videos, and brochures, offers educational programs on health, wellness, and medical management issues, and is staffed by professional health educators to assist with your health information needs.

Martin’s Point Health Care is a not-for-profit health care organization based in Portland, Maine. Our goal is to provide excellent health care and customer service to the communities we serve and, ultimately, to help those we care for live healthier lives.  We care for our communities in two ways: by providing Primary Care to patients in Maine and New Hampshire; and by offering health plans and wellness services to members throughout northern New England.

Pam Leo - Connection Parenting
Connection Parenting recognizes that securing and maintaining a healthy parent-child bond is our primary work as parents and the key to our children's optimal human development. Our effectiveness as parents is in direct proportion to the strength of the bond we have with our child. Connection Parenting promotes parenting practices that support a strong, healthy parent-child bond.  Pam Leo is the author of the book Connection Parenting, offers the seven-session parenting series, "Meeting the Needs of Children," as well as being an independent scholar in human development, a parent educator, a certified childbirth educator, a doula, a parent, and a grandparent. Read Pam's "Empowered Parents" column in Maine's bi-monthly Parent & Family newspaper. 

Parent & Family is a free bimonthly publication distributed throughout Cumberland and York Counties. Since 1995 we’ve supported families by covering a broad range of editorial topics, family-friendly events and local ongoing support and play groups. Parent & Family is found in a number of locations such as (though not limited to) public libraries, healthcare providers, birth centers, daycare/learning centers, schools, business/corporate offices,retailers (including Babies R Us, Borders etc), enrichment programs, social services organizations, and key Visitors' Centers around Maine. The growing subscription base brings P&F directly into homes around Maine and beyond.  Contact Parent & Family @ clorfano@maine.rr.com or 893-7186.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) is the largest reproductive health care and sexuality education provider and advocate in northern New England. PPNNE was founded in 1965 and now has 26 health centers across Vermont, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. Our mission is to provide, promote, and protect access to reproductive health care and sexuality education so that all people can make voluntary choices about their reproductive and sexual health.

Portland Education Partnership is a non-profit organization that enriches student learning and builds support for the Portland public schools by promoting opportunities for parent, business, and community involvement.

Founded in 1867, the Portland Public Library is a nonprofit organization offering more than 600,000 free resources including books, periodicals, and internet access for business, informational, and recreational use at its six locations.

Youth Alternatives Ingraham
When Youth Alternatives and Ingraham merged on September 17, 2007, we became one of Maine’s most comprehensive non-profits. Together we deliver a full spectrum of social services and mental health care to individuals that begins prenatally and continues throughout the life span. As a united organization, we can respond even more effectively and help produce healthier children and adults, happier families and stronger communities.  Ours is the only social service agency available to adults and children in Cumberland County 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. What’s more, we are also a critical gateway to community services and have been helping to improve the lives of thousands of individuals each year.  This year alone, we will proudly serve more than 10,000 children, adults and families in need.

At YOUTHINK, we are all about making change in creative and new ways.  We want all of our grant applicants to come up with innovative solutions to the social issues in Portland by tackling the root cause, but there are many different ways to go about doing this.  Our plan is simple — YOUTHINK helps give money and build skills in creative youth with great ideas, empowering young people to make long-term changes in their communities.

21 Reasons is a coalition based on the Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA) model.  We bring together individuals, organizations, and businesses with a common goal: to build a healthy community environment with policies, practices, and attitudes that support the drug-free development of all Portland youth.

Organizations that support Real Life. Real Talk.:

The Portland Public Schools
Maine's largest and most diverse school district dedicates itself to assuring that all students are learning for their future.  The Portland Public Schools educates 7,200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and about 6,000 adult learners.  Facilities range from a one-room schoolhouse on an island in Casco Bay to the nation's second-oldest public high school and a state-of-the-art elementary school on the downtown peninsula.  The district offers a challenging academic curriculum and a rich array of educational choices including expeditionary learning, vocational training and a thriving adult education program.  Portland Public Schools supports the Real Life. Real Talk social change initiative.