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The California Safe Schools Coalition (CSSC) is proud to announce its 2006-2007 Minigrant Program award recipients. The goal of the CSSC grants program is to work with and provide support to local partners who are striving to make the protections promised in the Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (AB 537) a reality in their area schools. Selected “partners” receive funding ranging from $500 - $4000, with an average grant size of approximately $2000, as well as ongoing support from the Coalition for the 2006-2007 academic school year. The amount of funding awarded is dependent upon the need of each recipient and the scope of the project. Recipients hail from Southern, Central and Northern California, and consist of Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs, LGBT Centers, and other non-profit organizations. This year’s nine grantees are highlighted below: Carlsbad High School's GSA is a second-year recipient of the CSSC's Minigrant Program. With their renewed funding, GSA students will train other GSA students to implement the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) awareness training they created using last year's Minigrant funding. Their hope is that the training that they have created will become a permanent and regular part of teacher in-service programs for the Carlsbad Unified School District. Some comments from teachers who participated in Carlsbad High's GSA training last spring include: "Your Breaking the Silence Training for teachers was presented with dignity and very professional. I was touched to tears by your courage and personal stories."; and "You definitely inspired me to be more vigilant about getting on kids outside my classroom who use discriminatory language, and include more gay, lesbian, transgender role models in my curriculum". The Mission High School GSA wants to be a model for other San Francisco and California High Schools about how to promote the safety of LGBT students. They plan to empower and train student leaders to increase the awareness of LGBT issues within their school. With the goal of moving beyond tolerance to acceptance, the GSA plans to engage in the Day of Silence, organize Pride Assemblies, hold movie nights, engage in youth leadership trainings with other community partners, and hold a drama performance of a gay-related play such as the Laramie Project. GSA members plan on publishing an activities/curriculum manual documenting their projects to share with other schools who wish to create a safer learning environment. Safe Schools Palm Springs/Desert Communities (SSPSDC) seeks to reduce the discrimination that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth experience while attending public schools. SSPSDC is a newly formed organization after 12 month as a chapter of the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). This burgeoning group intends to bring trainings, resources and face-to-face support to the schools in the Coachella Valley in relation to name-calling and bullying. The SSPSDC also wishes to establish “safe spaces” on campuses for threatened youth, conduct staff trainings on working with LGBT students, and assist in establishing and supporting Gay-Straight Alliances at all the public high schools in the desert communities. Youth Trans & intersex Education Services (Youth TIES) is a youth-led organization advocating for transgender, gender-variant, intersex and questioning (TGIQ) youth in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. With their second year of funding, Youth TIES plans to provide educational trainings that promote awareness, sensitivity, acceptance and understanding of transgender and intersex issues. Their trainings will educate middle and high schools students, and adults in the school systems that they work with. Youth TIES is entirely youth-led, and their goals include: creating an environment of respect for TGIQ students in California schools and ensuring that students’ gender identities, names and pronoun choices are respected and recognized by their peers, faculty, and administrators. The LGBTQ Family Center hopes to create a bridge to acceptance by assisting with the implementation of The Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act (AB 537), to provide referral services, and to organize youth empowerment/leadership events. With this year’s funding, the LGBTQ Family Center seeks to reach student representation from over half of Ventura County schools through the initiation of two LGBTQ youth groups in Oxnard and the Newbury Park/Thousand Oaks areas. Their hope is that by providing a safe and welcoming environment, the students will have an opportunity to discover they aren’t alone in dealing with homophobia and that the trained youth facilitators will be able to teach students how to constructively handle day-to-day pressures, as well as understand their rights under AB 537 and outside resources they can turn to when they need help. Our Family Coalition (OFC) promotes the civil rights and well being of Bay Area families with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and prospective parents through education, advocacy, social networking, and grassroots community organizing. In the San Francisco Bay Area teasing and bullying based on children’s or their parent’s actual or perceived sexual orientation is common and starts at an early age. To combat this homophobia, OFC plans to provide comprehensive training services to three elementary schools in the Bay Area and implement LGBT-inclusive elementary based curriculum. In addition, OFC will work with school administration to conduct an assessment of the school climate and make changes to the developed curriculum based on the schools’ needs. Outlet, a project of Community Health Awareness Council, is a comprehensive program dedicated to creating communities where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth (LGBTQQ) are whole and empowered individuals. This year, Outlet is using their grant towards the launch of their UNIQUE Trainings and Workshops: Understanding Issues in Queer Education. The interactive training led by youth walks teachers, administrators, and counselors through the experiences of LGBTQQ students. UNIQUE offers case studies and best practices on creating a safe classroom environment and a safe campus for all students, and offers a specific review of student safety legislation, to help teachers and districts understand the current laws and the resulting responsibilities on the part of schools systems for ensuring the safety of all students. The El Cerrito High School (ECHS) Community Project’s mission is to improve students’ well-being and success in school by increasing access to health service, reducing barriers to learning and providing opportunities for youth to serve their peers and the wider community. Through the efforts of their Student Research Team (who call themselves “Da Rainbow Clique”) and a school-wide conversation last year on school safety, they are now piloting a Queer youth Health Justice Initiative in collaboration with an Oakland-based organization, Youth In Focus (YIF). With this year’s grant, the Community Project, YIF and Da Rainbow Clique will engage in a second year of action and policy activism. Students will use their research to drive advocacy efforts to effect changes in school district policies and community conditions that give rise to the health and safety challenges they identified in their research. The Working Group (TWG) is an Oakland-based non-profit media company that combines television, internet and web resources with outreach and organizing efforts in the areas of workplace issues; race, diversity and the battle against intolerance; and encouraging democracy and citizen participation. TWG is utilizing their minigrant to pilot the new media-based anti-hate program Not In Our Town Northern California: When Hate Happens Here. The production documents five interlinked stories: Contact
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