Healthy teen network incubator innovation hub: "in/tend" - the healthy teen network innovation incubator hub envisions a world that affirms and celebrates every young person for who they are and…

Healthy teen network incubator innovation hub: "in/tend" - the healthy teen network innovation incubator hub envisions a world that affirms and celebrates every young person for who they are and ensures that they have the agency, opportunity, and equitable access to prioritize their bodies, relationships, and futures. We have named our hub in/tend: the play on words calls to mind "innovation," "incubator," and "intention" to emphasize that we will be a conduit for transforming unjust systems by embracing participatory research and design, and we "tend" or "care" for the innovation development teams (IDT) to build their innovation capacity and develop prototypes. Our hub will be a vibrant ecosystem bringing together dreamers, doers, innovators, and change-makers who stretch and push the boundaries of imagination to develop innovative approaches to adolescent health. We will be guided in our work by our innovation approach, which weaves together the principles human-centered design (HCD) and liberatory design (LD). We will challenge norms, amplify diverse voices, and promote inclusivity, connecting a community of disruptors, to ensure our work reflects the needs and experiences of all young people, and their families and communities. We will foster a culture of innovation rooted in equity that embraces the belief in universal creativity, encourages experimentation and iteration, values diverse perspectives, considers constraints as catalysts, and remains adaptive and responsive to systemic inequity and the needs of communities. Our goal is to advance health equity and enhance the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and well-being of adolescents by intentionally cultivating idts to develop cutting-edge innovations. Grounded by our vision and innovation culture, and in alignment with the office of population affairs (OPA), we will expand what is possible to improve SRH outcomes, promote youth development, and advance health equity for youth, their families, and communities. We will be an expert intermediary, supporting multiple cohorts of diverse idts to develop, test, and refine prototypes of innovations and innovative strategies. In/tend will enrich the broader TPP continuum and advance the mission of the office of the assistant secretary for health (oash) and OPA, as we support idts in discovery, exploring gaps and user needs, identifying existing assets and strengths, and building ideas through to prototype using participatory methods, in pursuit of innovations and innovative strategies to reduce teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (stis), or associated risk factors, and promote positive youth development.