Author: Nellie Mae Ed. Fdn.

Celebrating Joy and Working Towards Liberation (Interview with Outright Vermont’s Dana Kaplan Part Four)

We got the chance to talk to Dana Kaplan, Executive Director of Outright Vermont, an LGBTQ+ youth-facing organization, about the history of Outright, the current programs and events the organization is running, and the importance of centering youth and intersectionality in social justice work. This installment delves into more of Outright’s anti-racism work and goals for the future. This is part four of a four-part interview series about Outright. Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

We’re in a moment where movements for anti-racism are in the national spotlight. How has this current moment affected Outright Vermont’s work?

What’s true is that we know this is not new work, these are certainly not new needs, and these are not new conversations for black and brown folks and for our social justice movement work. The amplification and national spotlight has created a different level of opportunity, accountability, and inability to turn away. I think that’s primarily what has shifted. There are lots of ways youth are doing their own work and leading at some of the intersections of creating an anti-racist, anti-transphobic community, school system, and GSA. Some of these efforts are happening around School Resource Officers in schools, work Outright’s youth organizers are choosing to be part of organizing in their local communities and towns. Vermont is unique in that even though we are a small state, schools and communities are at really different starting places of progress, based most often on the level of community backlash and conservative politics they are navigating. Some youth are organizing to have the Black Lives Matter flag raised, while others are intentionally bringing in conversations around implicit bias and white supremacy. But it’s important to note that based on the previous administrations’ active emboldening of racism and hate, the level of backlash and threat is pretty shocking. The insurrection at the Capital brought to light just where we are as a country. It feels like we are at a tipping point, and it’s on all of us to show up for this work right now. Black and Brown folks have been erased, ostracized, and pushed out for way too long. It’s on all of us to wrestle with the questions and really ask what shifts people are making in this moment. It’s not a time to be comfortable. That’s never when change happens. As LGBTQ+ folks, with experiences of coming out and transitioning, we can tap into our lived experiences with transformation to know that liberation isn’t comfortable, but it’s necessary.

What are some goals that Outright Vermont has, both short-term and long-term?

Some of the work we’re up to is deeply internal — tuning our organizational capacity to be right-sized so as to set a strong foundation for the years to come. Some of that is about systems attunement, from fundraising and evaluation, to program growth and communications. Some of it is about accountability to our commitments as a staff and board to keep an anti-racism practice front and center, so we can make sure not to move from places of white supremacy, and can course correct when we do. You know, there has long been a sense for many non-profits that we have to work from a scarcity model — as an LGBTQ+ organization that inherently moves through a landscape wherein we are not the majority, I think we may get that burden of expectation to stay small more than many. So part of our work as a radical and transformative organization is to say “we get to take up space, we get to be here, we get to have the things that we need in order to be healthy and sustainable and thriving for years to come.”

One of our programmatic goals is to grow Camp Outright, starting with doubling the number of sessions we hold. Our organizational strategic plan really centers outreach and access to the most marginalized of youth, so that all LGBTQ+ youth throughout Vermont have hope, equity, and power. We are prioritizing efforts of care and mentorship with QTBIPOC youth, and being intentional about how we spend time and attention showing up for our partner orgs in this work together.

It’s not missed on anyone that it’s been a really hard and devastating year; when we’re talking about a population of folks who were already five times more likely than their cis/het peers to have attempted suicide in the past year (2019), who are already feeling disconnected and isolated and struggling to feel like they matter in their communities, adding the pandemic to that landscape has been really challenging. We will continue our work to make sure that youth know there’s always somebody who has their back, and we will continue to work structural and systems change so we can see a different tomorrow. Some of the programs we offer will always continue to have their place in the form they are now, and other pieces will continue to expand so that we’re more effectively having impact for those that need us most.

For a small, Vermont non-profit to have secure funding beyond one year out is a pretty radical accomplishment in and of itself, and something we’ve been working hard to cultivate over time. To have that backing in the form of multi-year grants from folks like Nellie Mae and other foundations who recognize the importance of saying ‘here’s a little breathing room, we believe in the work you’re doing and we trust you to use the money where you need it in order to keep moving forward in your mission’… That’s a massive gift!

Another interesting and really important thing happening in the world of philanthropy right now is more conversations about what it means re-distribute wealth and engage in direct reckoning of the ways money is tied to race and racism. Having transparent and explicit exchanges around how people have even gotten access to their wealth and what it looks like to really shift dynamics is something we are invested in organizationally. This isn’t just a conversation to have at the program level; it’s a conversation that needs to happen in the board room, with donors, and with youth. We really appreciate collaborating with foundations like Nellie Mae — so clear in your vision and commitments to creating equitable educational spaces. It’s truly an honor for Outright to be part of your orbit.

Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about you’d like to mention?

One thing that doesn’t get talked about that much, but feels really important, is the joy and beauty of being LGBTQ+, of being a trans person, and youth getting to celebrate that part of themselves and their identity that’s often the basis of hurt and harm in other spaces. Media coverage tends to focus on the disproportionate health outcomes that exist — the bullying, the self-harm, the suicide, and the very real and serious health equity considerations that deserve our attention. But we also need to create spaces for joy, so that queer and trans people can honor and celebrate those special parts of ourselves, because there is something very beautiful about our identities, and too often the focus is on stories of tragedy and harm. Working towards liberation and justice for LGBTQ+ people ultimately makes the world better for all of us. Working for a world that is free of racism makes the world better for all of us. As much we have to talk about the harm, it’s also really important that we make space for the joy and the celebration. There is hopefulness that comes when we all have the chance to be our true selves, with the love and care and resources we need to do just that.

Celebrating Joy and Working Towards Liberation (Interview with Outright Vermont’s Dana Kaplan Part… was originally published in Nellie Mae Education Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We got the chance to talk to Dana Kaplan, Executive Director of Outright Vermont, an LGBTQ+ youth-facing organization, about the history of Outright, the current programs and events the organization is running, and the importance of centering youth and intersectionality in social justice work. This installment explores Outright’s work with non-LGBTQ+ and adult allies as well as the importance of youth leadership. This is part three of a four-part interview series about Outright. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Can you speak about some of your work that is focused on allies who are not LGBTQ+, and how you balance that work with the work you do supporting queer youth?

We are here to change systems and culture, so that youth are validated in their identity and experiences when they’re with like-minded, LGBTQ+ folks, AND when they go back into their home environments. We need the dial moving forward! A huge part of our work is to bring folks along who might unintentionally — or sometimes intentionally — cause hurt and harm to our communities. There are folks on staff who spend the majority of their time working with adult allies. We are here first and foremost for youth, and we recognize that to make things better for youth, we need to look at the people and places of power with an ability to create change and help them do that work. Heterosexism and cissexism depend on cisgender and heterosexual folks not knowing their moments to show up differently. Just like it’s on white folks to recognize where white supremacy and racism harms us. It’s our responsibility to show up differently and do that work so folks of color have what they need and the space to be able to live their lives and dreams. It’s on all of us.

Allies need to have their own spaces to work their stuff out. We don’t want that to happen in such a way that youth are having to carry that burden — that’s why we have family programs and family spaces, because it’s not the responsibility of youth to have to do that educating. But yeah, we have some spaces that are just for LGBTQ+ identified folks. And other dedicated spaces for everybody, regardless of identity. We do our best to be mindful of tending to all the things and people and spaces with intentionality.

What is the importance of having a space where queer youth are not only supported, but are active leaders?

Youth are the experts of their own lives. They know what they need. Especially when we’re looking at LGBTQ+ youth and the places where homophobia and transphobia rob them of the ability to voice what’s needed — for example, it’s inaccurate and transphobic ideology to say that youth are too young to know their gender identity, when we know that that part of your brain forms between the ages of two and four. So when a youth says “I know I’m non-binary,” or “I know I’m trans,” it’s our responsibility to listen, and meet them with, “thank you for telling me. Thank you for letting me in. What do you need? How can I support you? What are your pronouns and what’s your name?”

Our being here is and has always been about working to change the toxicity that youth navigate, so that everyone can live the life they want and need. It’s not enough for us to just give someone a Band-Aid when they’re hurt; it’s our responsibility to say “how did you get hurt? What are the root causes of the set-up, and how can we together create change in this environment so that doesn’t happen again?” Youth are the ones that know because they’re living it! The most powerful and radical thing that adults can do is get out of the way and let youth lead, because they are the ones that know. We see that happening all over the world in terms of youth at the forefront of all sorts of social movements. It’s our responsibility to leave things better than we found them — youth are the ones paving the way for that work to happen.

How do you and other adults involved with the organization ensure that Outright Vermont is truly youth led?

It’s a process! We have the opportunity every single day to check where we’re coming from, to make sure we are living our values. We ask ourselves how to make sure we’re not tokenizing youth, how to meaningfully engage youth in the work so that when we’re planning priorities for the year, those priorities are coming directly from youth, which then becomes the road map for the work the organization takes on. Those priorities: training for teachers, inclusive queer sexual health education, having more gender neutral or gender-free facilities, harm repair, and access for all — that is direction we take from youth specifically, which informs the ways we’re making moves in our programs and staffing. We are also paying youth for their time and expertise, through our youth organizing program (thanks to the Nellie Mae Foundation!) and other youth mentorship roles. The structures for youth leadership within the organization have taken various forms over the years; but the form follows the function — and the function is always working to ensure that youth power is meaningfully woven throughout all facets of what we are up to.

In our final installment next Friday, we’ll delve into some goals Outright has for the future, including some of the anti-racist work Outright youth are doing. Stay tuned for more!

Youth Leaders and Adult Allies (Interview with Outright Vermont’s Dana Kaplan Part Three) was originally published in Nellie Mae Education Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We got the chance to talk to Dana Kaplan, Executive Director of Outright Vermont, an LGBTQ+ youth-facing organization, about the history of Outright, the current programs and events the organization is running, and the importance of centering youth and intersectionality in social justice work. This installment delves into some of Outright’s programming and how they’ve adjusted to COVID19. This is part two of a four-part interview series about Outright. Read Part 1.

Can you give a couple of examples of programs and events Outright runs?

Much of what we’re up to is creating opportunities for young people to connect, to have access to conversations that they wouldn’t otherwise get to be a part of. In a rural and remote state like Vermont, it can be hard for folks to access location-specific programming, so having everything go online has been helpful for youth and families that couldn’t otherwise get to our events and groups.

We run both one-off, statewide events and we also have our recurring weekly and monthly affinity-based social and support groups. An example of a bigger event we run is the Queer and Allied Youth Summit, which happens every May in a different and rotating location each year. It’s a 24-hour gathering of 200+ youth that typically includes a march and a speak out, youth led workshops, a townhall, a queer prom, and a sleepout. Pure community celebration, and for many, the first time they’ve seen so many peers like them!

A new event the team put together last year was based on what staff were hearing on the ground from youth themselves. We held a Lavender Commencement. For so many LGBTQ+ youth, commencement is not a given — whether they are enrolled in a more typical high school program or any other sort of degree or journey with a beginning, middle, and end. The cards are stacked such that it’s harder to be set up for success, right? That’s literally how inequity functions. So making it through school is big! We wanted to help validate and affirm their success, especially in the early days of the pandemic. Writer, activist, and trans visionary extraordinaire Alok Vaid-Menon gifted youth their new book, and they shared some beautiful words of wisdom, too. It was really sweet and special, and something we hope to continue to do from here on out.

We also run our week-long summer camp which I talked about earlier; this year we are committed to doubling the program, as we intend to run two sessions of camp, based on the need. Last year camp registration for 65 campers was full in just 33 minutes, so the need is real. It’s your typical summer camp with a queer, social justice twist. Dates for Camp are set — July 1–16 — and we are remaining hopeful that we can run it in-person.

In the winter, we also do winter camp reunion to help folks remember the community they have, even in the off-season. Another big event we coordinate is Leadership Day at the statehouse. Youth from across Vermont gather to meet with their legislators and talk about the issues most impacting their lives. We also do a panel with Legislators who identify as LGBTQ, and they talk about the intersections of what it means to be a representative, hold that level of power, and how to do it all while celebrating individual identities. It’s important for youth to see their futures as full of possibilities. It’s also an opportunity for youth to testify in committees on issues that matter most to them — Outright youth have been at the center of creating some important bills that impact their lives, like the gender neutral bathroom bill and testifying about the detrimental impact of conversation therapy.

You touched on this, but is there anything else about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected OV’s work?

We are definitely having to respond in different ways to issues that are coming up for youth that might not otherwise have been as obvious or pressing without COVID. There are so many youth who don’t have safe or consistent access to technology or the internet, so we’ve worked with some of them directly, and gotten tremendous support from the Vermont Department of Health to distribute the technology they need to remain connected in a virtual world. Often times, our connection to youth has been through the school system, so without school running as usual to be that bridge, we’ve had a different opportunity to go directly to youth. In May we did a statewide Needs Assessment to see what queer and trans youth were needing in response to COVID. A lot of what we heard back was spaces for connection, celebration, and fun. Some folks also talked about the need for support around being stuck in quarantine with abusive or unsupportive family members, or the lack of routine throwing off their ability to care for themselves, or the difficulty in accessing affirming medical care given how inundated health providers are. So there’s been a different level of some basic needs support and safety planning support that typically might otherwise be held by the schools.

We’ve also been doing more mutual aid. In September we did an outside traveling tour of Vermont, bringing gender-affirming supplies and grocery cards to different towns to make sure that some of youths’ most basic needs were being met. In some cases we were just there to say “hi” and be an IRL LGBTQ+ person! Sometimes youth aren’t seeing anyone else like them in their towns and communities, so just showing up and saying “hey I see you, I’m here with you” is an important part of what we’ve been up to.

Next Friday, we’ll explore the importance of centering youth voice and leadership, as well as how Outright works with allies to make the world safer for LGBTQ+ youth. Stay tuned for more!

Outright Vermont: Programs Amidst a Pandemic (Interview with Dana Kaplan Part Two) was originally published in Nellie Mae Education Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Introduction to Outright Vermont (Interview with Outright Vermont Executive Director Dana Kaplan Part 1)

We got the chance to talk to Dana Kaplan, Executive Director of Outright Vermont, an LGBTQ+ youth-facing organization, about the history of Outright, the current programs and events the organization is running, and the importance of centering youth and intersectionality in social justice work. This installment offers an intro to Outright’s work and their commitment to anti-racism. This is part one of a four-part interview series about Outright.

Can you give an introduction about what Outright Vermont is?

Outright Vermont is hope, equity, and power alongside LGBTQ+ youth. We are Vermont’s only youth-facing organization for queer, trans, non-binary, questioning, and allied folks. We help create peer connections for youth, strengthen families, and transform communities, systems, and schools. We are here for the joy and the comradery, the education and the rabble-rousing!

How long have you been at Outright Vermont, and what growth have you seen in your time there?

As an organization, Outright is now in its 32nd year! It started back in 1989 when a group of community members came together after recognizing the need to break the barriers of isolation and harm that were disproportionately impacting LGBTQ+ youth. I’ve been with the organization eight years now. Our North Star has always been to uplift the voices of LGBTQ+ youth while working to change the systems that create the most harm for young people. The ways in which we’ve done that and the stakeholders we’ve brought in have transformed over time. We’ve started working with youth as young as 3, and we’ve added family programming, because we recognize the connection between familial and community support and positive health outcomes for youth. We’ve grown tremendously in terms of our work with schools and gender and sexuality alliances (GSAs), which are peer-based support and activism groups within schools.

In your mission, you commit to anti-racist principles and practice. How have you incorporated that lens into your work?

It is a responsibility of all of ours to recognize the ways that white supremacy creates harm for everybody. Especially as a white leader in a state that’s 94% white; it’s in the air we breathe, but with different levels of impact on our QTBIPOC community. It’s important that we approach our work from an intersectional lens, especially as we have a platform to impact change with queer and trans youth, who are also black, brown, and indigenous. Our commitment to anti-racism is both internal and external. Program-wise, we’ve worked hard to ensure QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) youth have priority access to our week-long summer camp program. Thanks to the vision and leadership of staff of color, we established an equity fund a few years ago so as to create a deeper level of accessibility for community members who couldn’t otherwise attend. We know how important affinity spaces are; some of our work is to create QTBIPOC-only space, so youth can just be with each other without the whiteness that they have to navigate all the time. Some of that work looks like white folks being in conversation and accountable to each other and our QTBIPOC community members around what they need from their white peers. Camp is often the test-run for year-round programs, since we get a full week living together in intentionally crafted community, so we can see what’s needed and what works, and build from there.

In the past year, we created an Advisory group held by QTBIPOC community members, the purpose of which is to look at what’s needed in this moment according to youth, based on their experiences and expertise. They will guide the direction of what’s needed in terms of programming that’s specifically built for and with them at the center.

Part of our commitment is also to use the platforms we have to create space for learning and conversations around race and anti-racism, intersectionality, white supremacy, and harm repair. So when our Education team goes into schools and people ask for tips on how to create culture change to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ people, we also need to uplift the fact that queer and trans people are Black and Brown people. Racism intersects with classism intersects with homophobia and we can’t be siloed in these conversations, or we won’t achieve true liberation.

What’s true is that we are a work in progress. That’s part of the way that white supremacy culture is harmful to us all. We’re taught not to be vulnerable, we are taught to expect — especially as white folks — that we have all of the answers, often at the expense of folks of color. It’s not true, it’s not fair, and it robs us all of a richer, more meaningful existence. It’s our responsibility to engage in these conversations, and most especially with young people at an early age. We’re in a collective moment where it’s impossible to imagine how everybody gets to have their needs met if we’re not rooting these conversations in the systems of oppression that are enacting the harm.

Next Friday, we’ll delve into some of Outright’s programs and events, as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic has effected their work. Stay tuned for more!

An Introduction to Outright Vermont (Interview with Outright Vermont Executive Director Dana… was originally published in Nellie Mae Education Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.