PPGen:
The Power of Positive Activism

What makes you interested in running a club?​

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I wanted to get involved. When I first came to Carthage, there were quite a few clubs, but they weren't necessarily thriving. I really wanted to get involved so that I could get more students interested. I really wanted to get involved so that I could get more students interested. I wanted to create an inclusive environment here at Carthage where students can learn and participate in extracurriculars.

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What goes into creating and fostering a club?

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A lot goes into it. The very first step would be making sure you have an executive board that's dedicated and aligned with the club's mission. When you are the president of the club, it's your job to delegate tasks to make sure things get done, ensuring students know about your club and getting them involved. College can be very difficult, so we want to make our organizations into a fun atmosphere where everyone can feel involved and included.

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What is Planned Parenthood Generation Action?

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​One of Planned Parenthood's subsidiaries is the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. They started a project called Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGen), an organizaiton specific to college campuses. PPGen's mission is to foster involvement in the Planned Parenthood mission for students, usually around the ages of 18-25. We grow our base of people to empower positive activism, allowing students to know their rights and to get involved with government and policy. That builds a good foundation for college.

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What is the Planned Parenthood mission?

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The Planned Parenthood mission is to support the reproductive rights of all people: people of minorities, people in rural areas, people who don't have access to sex education, people who don't have access to reproductive care, and even people who don't have access to affordable medical care.

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How does Planned Parenthood uphold their mission?

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Planned Parenthood has many different clinics, many different places where people can go to get free reproductive health services they may not be able to afford from a regular doctor. Planned Parenthood also has many education centers where people can learn about inclusive sex-ed. Planned Parenthood hosts many different tabling events to inform people about government policy, methods of action, and ways to make a difference in their own communities.

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​What are the stigmas surrounding Planned Parenthood?

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A lot of people think Planned Parenthood is just for women who need abortions. That is so far from the truth. Planned Parenthood serves men, women, trans people, non-binary people – they serve everybody. There are so many communities Planned Parenthood is dedicated to helping.

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​The Planned Parenthood mission is to support the reproductive rights of

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                People Of Minorities

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                            People in Rural Areas

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                   people who don't have

                                access to sex education

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                       people who don't have

                                access to reproductive care

                 

                    and even people who don't have                             access to affordable healthcare.

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What is Planned Parenthood doing right now?

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Under the current administration, there is a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. It's a very dangerous bill because many people don't know that Planned Parenthood has many clinics in rural communities that don't have primary doctors or accessible hospitals. For many people in these communities, Planned Parenthood providers are the only healthcare providers have access to.

 

If Planned Parenthood is defunded, a lot of these rural health centers will be forced to close. A lot of people will lose access to essential healthcare.

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How is PPGen visible in Carthage?

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PPGen starts with introducing students to reproductive and sex education – things they may not been exposed to in high school. Students may not know the different services Planned Parenthood has to offer or their reproductive rights. PPGen also provides free condoms and dentals dams to Carthage students, and we provide informational resources for STIs and STDs, abortion access, and gender affirming care.

 

We make it our mission to help and support students, getting people involved to break down the stigmas surrounding Planned Parenthood. When students feel comfortable, they can share the knowledge of Planned Parenthood with others.

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What successes has PPGen had in Carthage?

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In the 2024 presidential election, we did a lot of tabling. Specifically, we tried to be nonpartisan, helping students figure out how they can register to vote. We wanted to let students know that if they were living in Wisconsin at college, they were able to vote here. We assisted with registration, guiding students to different Kenosha polling locations through Carthage's shuttle system.

 

We break down barriers so students know that they have a voice, that they can vote in these crucial elections. We believe voting is an important, democratic right. We want young students to get politically involved early.

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What have you learned in being a part of PPGen?

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​I didn't have any connections to Planned Parenthood before coming to Carthage. I knew they provided reproductive healthcare services, but I did not know these other pieces of the puzzle, like activism, affordable healthcare, and voter registration. I learned how to be a good activist, how to break down barriers, and help people feel included in a mission. I learned how to help people find their space.

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Since you did not have connection with Planned Parenthood prior to Carthage, what attracted you the organization?

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As a Women's and Gender Studies minor, I am very interested in feminist studies, so I applied to be on the Executive Board of PPGen here at Carthage to learn more about their mission. I wanted to know how Planned Parenthood could help students like me.

 

I was ready to explore a new organization that promotes the rights of everybody, that provides inclusive healthcare for all people. I was excited to get involved and see what good things they're doing in the world. I'm glad I did, because it's been great.

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What are your favorite memories with PPGen?

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My favorite memories are just seeing people's faces when they are learning new things about Planned Parenthood, especially during voter registration. We had a lot of students who didn't think they could vote, didn't know how to vote, or didn't want to vote. Young people should know their rights are their government. They should know how to help their fellow humans and how they can get involved. Explaining to students how easy the voting process is and helping them get to polling locations was great. It's really exciting to see young people excited to exercise their right to vote.

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What would you say to someone who is against the mission of Planned Parenthood?

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They should read more about it. There have been a lot of things in my life I though I was against, but it turned out I just didn't have all the knowledge. I didn't have the information I needed, and when I did, it totally changed my mindset. It changed how I felt. I would urge anyone who thinks Planned Parenthood's mission isn't important to learn more about it – to see us firsthand.

 

Planned Parenthood impacts many people: men, women, nonbinary people, people of all races and religions. In 2017, 56% of Planned Parenthood Health Centers were in rural or medically underserved areas. Many people work under Planned Parenthood so that everyone can have access to affordable healthcare and inclusive sex education.

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What would you recommend someone to read to become more informed about Planned Parenthood?

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You can always go to plannedparenthood.org. They have tons of resources. They have mission statements, things you might not know about Planned Parenthood. They will inform you about what is going to in different local government agencies and in different states. plannedparenthoodactionfund.org is a website geared towards young people and activists. You can find out a lot from there as well.

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If someone were to join PPGen, what should they expect?

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If someone were to join, we would put them on our email list to receive meeting reminders. Every other week, PPGen meets, rotating between educational events and social events. This September, we did an introduction to Planned Parenthood followed by a Door Dec session. We want to help people find their voice in Planned Parenthood, whether it's creative or political expression.

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We often do giveaways! We do prize and raffle baskets. We do fundraisers for different community organization, like Women's and Children's Horizons. All money is donated to these organizations, and the winner receives fun prizes, such as merch baskets and Stanley Cups.

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We also involve our members in different volunteering opportunities around the area. Planned Parenthood of Milwaukee often has a lot of fun events where people volunteer: doing tabling shifts, gathering in the park and walking to their local legislators' office. We connect you with those services to get you involved with PPGen activism.

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What would you say to someone who may be intimidated in joining PPGen?

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I would say that's a valid take. Marcus Lemon and I, the two members of the 2025 executive board, try our absolute hardest to make PPGen as accessible as possible. We try to have events and meetings in private spaces. We're never going to send people out where they would feel unsafe. We've only ever received support from faculty, administration, and other students.​

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And so I would just say: take a chance. Just come to a meeting. You don't have to completely affiliate yourself with Planned Parenthood. You can just come to a meeting and make a fun craft. If you decide you want to come back, that's great. If you decide you don't, that's cool too. Open yourself up to the opportunities, because I think that's a really important thing for all students to do at college.

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Why is activism important?

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Activism is important because any sort of change – to your campus, you local legislature, even the federal government – starts with grassroots efforts. It starts with one person saying, Hey, I'm not so sure about this. Maybe I should tell people around me what's going on, so that other people are aware of this. Just organizing, getting together, rallying support or opposition, making your voice heard. It's really important.

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So much of your life is going to be dictated by what other people are trying to tell you. By what's spread in the media. Getting involved in activism at a young age promotes an intellectual mindset. It promotes thinking critically about what's going on around you.

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If someone wanted to contact PPGen, where would they find you?

• Official Email: carthageppgen@gmail.com

• President Email: koldham@carthage.edu

• Instagram: @carthageppgen