A WELCOMING AND AFFIRMING MAINE (Winter 2022). OUT Maine builds welcoming and affirming communities that support LGBTQ+ youth in all of their intersectional identities. As the only Maine organization that has focused exclusively on queer youth since 1996, it has built a strong expertise in supporting, educating and empowering queer youth. It also is committed to changing the very systems that are failing these youth: schools, health/mental health care, foster care, law enforcement and faith communities. Maine's LGBTQ+ youth are at very high risk:

—Harassment/Assault at schools, based on sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity*
—3X-4X the suicide rate of heterosexual peers**
—2X-3X as likely to feel sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in the past year**
—25-40% of homeless teens are LGBTQ***

OUT Maine actively works to counter these realities and build LGBTQ+ youth resilience and brighter futures. It has created a rural-community-focused model that strengthens youth, their families, communities and system supports by:
—building youth capacity, resiliency and community through weekly programs, overnights, weekend leadership retreats and statewide events like the Rainbow Ball Weekend and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts studio-immersion weekend
—improving school climate through policy and procedure improvements, trainings and building/supporting Gay/Straight/Trans Alliances (GSTAs), which reduce bullying/harassment for ALL students by 50%****
—weaving a safety net of informed community providers -- health/mental health providers, clergy, schools and community youth-serving organizations -- with trainings to build safety/affirmation in their youth engagements
—supporting families to keep youth at home to reduce homelessness
—working directly with the systems that interact with youth to make them more affirming, most recently the Maine Department of Education, the Office of Family and Children’s Services, and the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Thanks to Clowes Fund support, OUT Maine provided critical support for schools across Maine throughout the pandemic, providing online training and virtual youth engagement opportunities to replace lost school connections. New initiatives include:
—a partnership with the Department of Education to provide resources and supports to schools
—a multi-year grant to expand the school climate change initiative to include other marginalized youth populations, encouraging more inclusive schools for all Maine youth in all of their multi-dimensional identities
—a partnership with the Maine chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics to build training and hands-on resources to make medical offices and mental health practices more welcoming and affirming for LGBTQ+ youth, particularly transgender youth
—a Queer BIPOC youth advisory board that will build recommendations for making OUT Maine’s -- and all youth programs -- more welcoming and inclusive for young people of color.

The Clowes Fund seeded OUT Maine’s integrated school climate initiative that is the cornerstone of the expanded effort to make Maine schools more inclusive for all Maine marginalized youth. OUT Maine is very grateful for the Fund’s continued support of its work and the shared vision of a welcoming and affirming Maine.

(Sources: *GLSEN National School Climate Survey, 2019; **Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, 2019; *** Human Rights Campaign; **** https://news.ubc.ca/2014/01/20/gay-straight-alliances-in-schools-reduce-suicide-risk-for-all-students/)

In the image, LGBTQ+ Youth Together Create Magic! OUT Maine hopes to repeat its in-person Rainbow Ball Weekend in April 2022, drawing 150 youth from around Maine for a weekend of fun, learning, community and a queer-safe prom!

Clowes Fund Field(s) of Interest: Workforce (Youth) Development

Grantees