In this issue... Front & Center Could Teen Advisors Help Your Abstinence Education Program? By Jor-El Godsey Abortifacients and the Sixth Commandment By Mark B. Blocher The Five Life Roles of a Teenage Mother By Christa M. March When You Feel Like Giving Up on Someone By David J. O'Leary Grants: Applying for Federal Funds By Peggy Hartshorn Doing What I Could By Betty Z. Walker At the Rural Center When Good Girls Fall By Lynne M. Thompson The Provision of Limited Obstetrical Ultrasound in the Second and Third Trimesters of Pregnancy By Thomas A. Glessner Marketing 101 By Jerry Thacker By Dinah Monahan Have you ever driven through a small town in the middle of nowhere and wondered what kinds of things folks did there to earn a living? The towns in the West are a lot like that—a patch of civilization consisting of scattered homes, a Seven-Eleven, a Dairy Queen, and, if it's a "big" small town, a Wal-Mart—all in the middle of nowhere. What might surprise you is that many of these oasis towns have pregnancy care centers. Often, we directors of rural centers feel disenfranchised and disconnected from the movement. To overcome this, centers in our region collaborated and started the Southwestern Rural and Small CPC Conference. We first sent out a questionnaire asking the centers in Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California, and Utah if they would be interested in getting together. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Our center hosted the first conference. We decided to make it simple, cheap, and fun. We had it at a camp where we bunked together and ate cafeteria style. We got the ball rolling, and now a different pair of centers hosts the conference every year. Those centers decide on the program, games, speakers, and music. We don't pay speakers, so the cost is minimal. There were fifty attendees from seventeen centers at that first conference. We are now going on our sixth year. It is a highlight for many volunteers who don't get to attend the larger conferences. Each year our friendships grow deeper, and the directors love their time together sharing, commiserating, and uplifting each other. For information about starting your own rural conference, contact Dinah at dinah@cybertrails.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dinah Monahan is the Heartbeat International Consultant for Rural and Small Centers and the founder and Executive Director of Women's Choice Pregnancy Clinic and Hope House Maternity Home.