Hello!
This update email is a bit delayed, and thus contains some content from our July meeting and our Back to School Fair. Keep reading to learn more about what you may have missed!
TLDR:
(Too Long, Didn’t Read)
Next meeting: Tuesday, August 27th at 7pm. We’ll be focusing on preparing to go back to school, and what this year will look like for LGBTQ+ students, professionals, and allies with the recent legislative changes. We’d love to have anyone and everyone interested attend!
Our LGBTQ+ Back to School Fair was beautiful! We are excited to do it again next year and make it even better!
We asked some questions in our meeting about what folks think LGBTQ+ kids and educators might need this school year, and we share the results of their collective brilliance.
Share with us! We’re collecting positive and uplifting stories about times when LGBTQ+ folks felt included and supported in our schools so we can learn more about what to do, and what helps the most!
We share some ways you can take action to support your local schools this year!
Next Meeting
The next meeting for the Cache LGBTQ+ Collective is happening next Tuesday, August 27th! You can attend in person at 7pm at Cache Pride (596 E 900 N, Logan, UT 84321), or online at a zoom link we’ll send out closer to the day.
We also wanted to invite you to the first social hour event happening at 6pm before the meeting starts at 7pm. Join us for an extra hour of good food and good company in an affirming, supportive space. Please invite anyone you think would like to come! If you feel up to it, stay for the meeting and learn about what’s new!
Here are some of the topics we hope to cover in this meeting:
Celebrate and review our first ever Back to School Fair event!
Share about upcoming events and announcements folks have
Prepare for our booth and our involvement with Logan Pride
Work on the long-term structure and sustainability of our Collective
Please bring any upcoming events, opportunities, ideas, friends, or announcements you’d like to share. If you have any questions or suggestions, send us an email at [email protected]. We’ll see you soon!
Celebration Cycle
Back to School Fair
On August 10th, we held our first ever Back to School Fair for LGBTQ+ students, families, and educators! We had 35 attendees join us to take advantage of the free school supplies, LGBTQ+ pride swag, craft activities, face painting, and a bounce house! We had so many amazing resources available for them thanks to our awesome community members and allied organizations.
Special thanks to CAPSA, Mama Dragons, Family Solutions Counseling, The Family Place, The Bear River Regional LGBTQ+ Coalition, Logan Pride, and Cache Pride Center for tabling and sharing their resources! Big thank you to Bill and the folks at Prince of Peace Presbyterian Church for hosting and helping us set up and take down. Thanks also to Le Croissant, Great Harvest Bread Co, and Isaac at Logan Pride for providing delicious pastries and treats for all!
If you or anyone you know is in need of school supplies this year, please reach out to Cache Pride Center by emailing Kelsey at [email protected]. You can also follow this link to request what you’re looking for specifically so we can get it donated and delivered to you!
Check out the resources below to save some of the awesome information handed out at the fair! Special thanks to Melissa Draper to creating the resource pages and printing them out, and to Yesenia Garcia Tellez and Gabriela Velazquez for translating our Bullying Reporting Flyer into Spanish!
Survey Says…
At our July meeting, we asked the group about their thoughts about school advocacy for LGBTQ+ students. Listed beneath each question are the suggestions that folks submitted anonymously. Responses that were similar were summarized and grouped together.
Question 1: What do you think LGBTQ+ students’ needs might be this school year?
Ongoing and updated list of safe spaces
Clearly communicated community support
Coping strategies for feeling isolated
Food insecurity
Access to gender neutral facilities
Resources for queer topics
Access to therapy and mental health helplines
Question 2: How do you envision the Collective's role in local schools this year?
Sex education support
A series of education sessions on sex, bullying, queer parenting, etc that are supported by the collective
Sharing resources for queer youth and families with school staff
Organize reporting and help fight bullying
Dissemination of information
Coordination at events and helping connect kids to groups that can help support them
Advocating for kids at board meetings and legislative sessions
Support GSAs and Rainbow Clubs, maybe with donations of supplies, snacks, sodas, etc.
Educate, agitate, organize
Social events to address the need for safe spaces to gather
Drawing attention to BS that would otherwise go unchecked
Do you have more suggestions? Submit your thoughts by clicking the button below!
Share Your Stories
We’re collecting positive and uplifting stories about times when LGBTQ+ folks felt included and supported in our schools so we can learn more about what to do, and what helps the most! Click the button below to be taken to a quick survey where you can share your story with us.
Take Action!
Besides interacting with all the wonderful resources above, we had a few slides dedicated to ways folks can take action in school advocacy spaces this year we want to share with you!
Thanks for reading! We look forward to seeing you on August 27th!
