NEB is Celebrating Pride!

Our organization has had the pleasure of serving educators all over Rhode Island and other parts of the New England region and sometimes the conversations we have in our shared spaces spark incredible ideas. In May, at a Culturally Responsive Teaching Application session, I had the privilege of speaking with an educator about the need for more resources around allyship and advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community in his building. What began as a casual back and forth inspired the programming outlined below, and spurred connections with other organizations and individuals leading this work around Rhode Island. 

We hope to really expand this for next year, and if you are someone who would like to partner with us, we’d love to talk more. One observation that became glaringly apparent is that the transformative, deliberate efforts to improve outcomes and create safe environments for LGBTQIA+ youth and families in our schools and communities is siloed. Many people are working on this, but haven’t had an opportunity to join forces with others. We want to change that. Please consider reaching out to us if you know someone who would like to be involved in this work for next year by contacting either Danielle (drenzi@nebasecamp.org) or Hannah (hgoodwinbrown@nebasecamp.org) 

Our programming for this year is broken into three components. The first of which is Asynchronous Personalized Learning Playlists that follow three tracks for exploration: Personal, Team, and School Wide. 

Personal is geared toward anyone who believes in creating a safe and supportive environment for LGBTQIA+ folx, but doesn't feel quite comfortable themselves with the nuances, and wants more education around the issues, build vocabulary and thoughtfully and effectively field questions that may arise. 

Team is geared toward anyone who personally feels comfortable, but wants to lead or support a small team at their school in building out intentional strategies and initiatives around this work. This could be a grade level team, Student Improvement Team, Social Emotional Team, Personalized Learning Community, etc. 

School Wide is geared toward anyone who wants to initiate a School Wide effort to support LGBTQIA+ populations in the building. Not all schools even have a GSA, a point person youth can go to, a person comfortable navigating these conversations, etc. So, this is for anyone who wants to create concrete programming, a committee, structures, safe spaces, etc. 

These playlists are in the form of google docs (linked above) and the idea is that people would click on a resource, read, listen or watch, and reflect. 

The second facet of our programming is a Hashtag Challenge for engagement. We want to raffle off both a basket that would support the work of a GSA at a school: think- resources, swag, prizes, etc. as well as donate to GSLEN in someone's name. So, as people engage with the tracks we're asking them to tweet, instagram or facebook their reflections or comments with the hashtag #NEBPRIDEMONTH and as they use that hashtag, we're going to collect their handles and enter them into a raffle.

And the third and final facet of our programming for this year is a Community Forum and corresponding workshops happening virtually on June 22nd from 12-2. The panel discussion will involve stakeholders from all over the state having an honest discussion about how schools and school communities can improve outcomes for LGBTQIA+ youth, educators and families. From there, we plan to move into workshops so that educators can connect with people about their specific interests. Be on the lookout for our flyer describing the programming in more detail. I hope you’ll join us on that day, as the conversation promises to be enriching and our panelists have worked hard to plan informative and engaging workshops for you. Our dream is for GSAs to tune in across Rhode Island and the larger New England area. The link to the session can be found on our website. 

We hope to see you there!