Creating Safe Schools for LGBTQQ Youth

Horizons Foundation has been awarded a $439,000 grant from The California Endowment to support the collaborative efforts of community-based organizations in Contra Costa County to create a safe and more supportive school environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and queer (LGBTQQ) youth.

The two-year grant, which is funded under The Endowment's CommunitiesFirst program, covers a variety of initiatives-awareness and sensitivity training on LGBTQQ issues; leadership development for queer youth; and individual, group, and family counseling. Along with improving the mental health and physical well-being of LGBTQQ youth, The Endowment hopes the grant will publicize and help to implement A.B. 537, the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000. The act makes it illegal for schools to discriminate against queer students and staff, or to allow an environment that encourages hostility toward queer students. "A.B. 537 is an unfunded mandate, so communities and school districts are left on their own to implement it," says Rosavinia Pangan, Program Associate at The Endowment. "And violence prevention curricula that include or address hate behaviors against queer youth are still largely nonexistent."

Pangan notes that Contra Costa County in particular faces significant challenges in providing a safe environment for queer youth, due to the county's conservative political forces. "This is a really big statement-that a group of community-based organizations are banding together to do something about hate," she says.

Horizons will work closely with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, San Francisco–East Bay (GLSEN SF-EB), which will coordinate leadership for the project. Horizons will act as the fiscal sponsor for the grant and will supply technical assistance to the coalition of organizations in the county, which includes GLSEN SF-EB, the Gay Straight Alliance Network, Rainbow Community Center, the Center for Human Development, the TeenAge Program, New Connections, and STAND!, among others.