Supporting Middle and High School Age LGBTQIA+ Youth in Programs Spaces

The first half of a training series aimed at helping youth service providers who work with youth ages 12-19 create safer and inclusive programming for LGBTQIA young people and their peers. This interactive training will feature role plays and case studies to examine common LGBTQIA inclusion issues and best practices to find practical solutions to these issues. Participants must attend both trainings in order to receive a certificate of completion.

Adolescence is a time for more than just biological changes. It's a time for cognitive maturation and changing social expectations. The self-creation of one’s identity is a major part of this time in a young person’s life. For LGBTQIA+ youth it's often a reckoning of feelings they’ve experienced for most of their lives coming to the surface in new and exciting ways. And often before they talk to an adult about what they are experiencing they are looking for subtle hints that they will be loved and respected for who they are.

In Supporting Middle and High School Age LGBTQIA+ Youth in Programs Spaces we will offer information, tool, and skills to all participants that will enhance their ability to provide support to youth in their programs who do not identify as cisgender and/or within the gender binary, or as heterosexual.

Training Objectives:

• learn about an accountability tool, Community Invitations
• reflect on the ways we've been acculturated and socialized around sexuality and gender
• discover how gender and sexuality have evolved over time in the United States.
• explore expansive notions of gender and sexuality, including how these concepts have evolved over time
• review information on sex, gender, gender identity, and gender expression the ways that these constructs impact programming
• begin to learn basic, age-appropriate ways to talk to program participants about gender and sexuality.
• practice conflict resolution tools for staff when gender and sexuality issues arise
• recall local and digital community resources in NYC

Advanced registration for this workshop is required. An insufficient number of registrants will result in cancellation or postponement of this workshop. Registration is for the approved candidate only. Substitutions are not allowed without the approval of the TA Provider.

In many cases, space is limited and a waitlist has been established. The registrant is asked to cancel their registration in Eventbrite or contact the TA provider if they are not able to attend a workshop, so that the space can be awarded to another individual. We thank you for that courtesy.

This training is made possible by funding from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development.