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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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[Verbatim statement] Jackson, MS- Centers for Disease Control recently released a report that puts Mississippi as the nation’s leader in teen births. Many parents are intimidated to talk with their child about sex and other social issues that most students face everyday. The Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (JMMF) is taking the anxiety out of that discussion. The Mississippi State Health Department and others will join the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation for a news conference on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at Center Stage of the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center to announce plans and activities for “Empowering Minds, Saving Lives” Teen Summit 2009. Partners will unveil the agenda that helps high school students develop prevention and intervention skills to deal with issues they face on a daily basis

. “Empowering Minds, Saving Lives” Teen Summit 2009 is February 26th from 9 a.m. until noon in the UMC Auditorium at the Medical Mall. It will feature social service professionals and high school students passionate in their fight to win back our young people at risk for dropping out of school, teenage pregnancy, violence and abuse, disease, and more. Students will have open mike for them to talk candidly with professionals about issues and problems as well as an opportunity to win prizes for themselves and for their school during a competition that focuses on the core issues. The teen summit is in conjunction with the Medical Mall Foundation’s “Fresh Start” 2009 Career and College Fair.

For more information on “Empowering Minds, Saving Lives” Teen Summit 2009 or “Fresh Start” 2009 Career and College Fair, call the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation at (601) 982-8467 or log on to http://www.jacksonmedicalmall.org.

Teen Summit Partners include: My Brother’s Keeper, Inc., Mississippi Urban Research Center, Metro Jackson Community Prevention Coalition, Hinds Behavioral Health Services Children’s Services Division, Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated Stork’s Nest, United Way of the Capitol Area, Mississippi Children Home Services, Perico Institute for Youth Development and Entrepreneurship (PRIYDE), MADDRAMA, PIP Printing & Document Services, OurGlass Entertainment, and Jackson Public Schools Safe & Drug-Free Division.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.