About Us
Our Vision
Our Mission
Our Programs
Healthy Futures currently offers classroom-based education program, but we believe that positive youth development requires a multi-level approach. Through consultation, Healthy Futures programs also include education through after-school and summer programs, parent education workshops, and school and community connections. These programs provide a holistic, multifaceted approach promoting positive youth development. Healthy Futures is dedicated to empowering adolescents to avoid the health, social, and psychological consequences of risky decisions by equipping students with the tools and educated support system they need to make healthy choices. Learn More
Our People
RHEA GORDON
Rhea Gordon
Executive Director
LISA RUE, PhD
Lisa Rue, PhD
Senior Program Manager
Dr. Lisa Rue has over 30 years of experience working with adolescents including school-based sex education. She received her PhD from Colorado State University in 2005. She has developed both risk reduction and risk avoidance prevention programs for adolescents and emerging adults. These experiences informed the pilot study the OPTIONS Model of Sexual Risk Assessment in 2006.
Over her career she has raised millions of dollars for the implementation of health promotion programs and evaluations including teen pregnancy prevention, mental health and wellness, career development and cross-cultural evaluations.
Dr. Rue has been funded as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on nine teen pregnancy prevention program evaluations. She is a popular presenter both in the U.S. and Internationally with twenty professional publications, nineteen juried conference presentations and thirty-five invited presentations for professional conferences in the field of education and adolescent health promotion.
She was the recipient of the Research Enrichment and Development Initiative (REDI Fellowship) at UNC in 2006. This was a competitive award that provided seed funding for the OPTIONS Project at UNC.
She served as the Principal Investigator on two funded OPTIONS research projects (UNC, 2006, and Title X, 2008) and the formative evaluations of the OPTIONS App in 2013 & 2016. The OPTIONS App won the 2016 PRIME HEALTH Challenge, a digital health technology competition in Denver. The application was added to the powerful cliexa platform in 2018 and is now known as cliexa-OPTIONS.
Our Funders
Healthy Futures programming was made possible through funding provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Adolescent Health (OAH).
In 2010, Healthy futures was one of 19 organizations in 14 states and the District of Columbia awarded a grant to research and demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs. Through this grant, Healthy Futures was being rigorously evaluated by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. using pre- and post-test surveys, fidelity tools, teacher and school coordinator surveys, and program observations.
