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posted Friday, December 11, 2020 - Volume 48 Issue 50Select Language ▼
Northwest Youth Corps program empowers LGBTQ teens tocelebrate their identities while gaining life and job skills serving at
local National Parks
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Northwest Youth Corps program empowers LGBTQteens to celebrate their identities while gaining lifeand job skills serving at local National Parks
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The Seattle Gay News received the following pressrelease on Friday evening, October 9, 2020. In scanning our incomingemail the following week, we inadvertently overlooked it. Fortunately, wecame across it this past weekend and are pleased to now publish thisstory of Northwest Youth Corps and their work with LGBTQ teens.]
October 11th is National Coming Out Day, an annual LGBTQ awarenessday to support LGBTQ people in "coming out of the closet." While thisgreat day of support and solidarity for the LGBTQ community helps manyteenagers feel empowered to "come out," there can be a very difficultperiod afterwards where young people struggle to navigate the newchallenges this transition brings.
The non-profit Northwest Youth Corps (NYC), running youthdevelopment/conservation service programs since 1984, witnessedfirsthand how LGBTQ youth often have many obstacles to overcomeafter they "come out," whether involving family, losing friends, or notknowing how to deal with new situations. NYC's move to create RainbowCrews - serving teens identifying as LGBTQ+ - began when theyrecognized the need to be much more purposeful in supporting thiscommunity and wanted to help these young teenagers be betterprepared to navigate their lives ahead.
In 2020, with support from the National Park Foundation and REI, NYCwas able to offer two Rainbow Crew sessions this past summer inpartnership with the National Park Service. With strict COVID-19 safetyprotocols in place these crews successfully completed importantconservation work partnering with Mount Rainier National Park, Ebey'sLanding National Historical Preserve, and Lewis and Clark NationalHistorical Park. These local National Parks have been huge supportersof the Rainbow Crews and exemplify their commitment in striving to be aplace where people from all backgrounds feel both welcomed and arerepresented.
In 2016, with help from OUT There Adventures, an outdoor educationorganization designed to specifically help meet the needs of LGBTQyoung people, and funding from the National Park Foundation, who wereexcited to support this new diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative, NYCcreated the first single identity LGBTQ conservation crew. The programoffers a paid service-learning experience comprised of crewmembersserving 5 weeks with partnering National Parks, working on parkmaintenance and habitat restoration projects for 6-8 hours a day withdaily education and life skills lessons afterwards, allowing participants toalso earn high school credit. Most importantly, the Rainbow Crewprovides a space for young people to be themselves, share stories anddiscuss common challenges.
"The National Park Service has been charged with helping to preserveand tell all of America's stories.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/index.htm
This includes the ongoing struggle to recognize LGBTQ heritage
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/lgbtqheritage.htm
as embodied in places like Stonewall Inn National Monument,"
https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm
said Chip Jenkins, Superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park.
https://www.nps.gov/mora/index.htm
"We are proud to work with the Northwest Youth Corps LGBTQ RainbowConservation Crew to ensure all people feel welcome in their nationalpark."
This summer the Rainbow Crew spent four weeks improving MountRainier National Park by brushing four miles of the Kautz Creek Trail,installing three water bars on the Eagle Peak Trail, and buildingsubstantial retaining walls along trails near Longmire. The crew alsohelped park staff conduct a bat survey.
"When I joined the first Northwest Youth Corps LGBTQ crew at sixteen, Iwas forever changed by the sense of belonging and support that I felt, forthe first time in my life, as a queer person, from queer people," said aLeader-In-Training from session-two of the summer 2019 season. Thissame young person credits his Rainbow Crew experience for giving himthe confidence and skills to be successful on a wilderness crew, and forhis new-found desire to be a professional firefighter.
As the parent of one Rainbow Crew participant said, "Y'all are buildingmore than trails and footbridges, y'all are building confidence andstrength in our kids who are at highest risk."
The award-winning Rainbow Crew (The Corps Network's 2020 Project ofthe Year - corpsnetwork.org) is being funded through the generoussupport of the National Park Foundation and REI with additional supportfrom the Dawkins Charitable Trust. Learn more about the Rainbow Crewat www.nwyouthcorps.org
About the Northwest Youth Corps Northwest Youth Corps was created in1984 to offer teenagers an education-based, work experience modeledafter the historic Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's.
Our core purpose is to provide opportunities for youth and young adultsto learn, grow, and experience success. Our programs focus oneducation, challenge, community, leadership and empowerment, givingyouth critical life skills and confidence. Youth leave Northwest YouthCorps knowing that they can overcome obstacles, solve problems, makefriends, and attain their objectives in life.
Northwest Youth Corps serves over 1,000 youth annually in Washington,Oregon, Idaho and California. Learn more at
https://www.nwyouthcorps.org
Courtesy of Northwest Youth Corps
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