FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WASHINGTON — The National Youth Advocacy Coalition today announced plans to establish a formal membership structure to offer enhanced capacity building assistance to organizations that reach out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex (LGBTQI) youth.
The NYAC Network, which will enable LGBTQI organizations across the country to share ideas and gain further access to NYAC’s technical assistance apparatus, will begin accepting members on July 15, 2009. Organizations can join by visiting NYAC’s website at www.nyacyouth.org.
“During these times of progress, it is important that the voice of organizations devoted to the well-being of LGBTQI youth is heard,” said Gregory Varnum, executive director for NYAC. “During these times of economic hardship, it is important that organizations have support systems in place to help them weather this storm. The NYAC Network is designed to do both.
“Organizations are invited to join the Network and become a member of an elite group of organizations committed to ensuring that LGBTQI youth are provided safe and nurturing services and the opportunity to grow into healthy adults ready to lead the LGBTQI civil rights movement.”
The cost of membership will depend on an agency’s overall operating budget, though Varnum said that most organizations would be able to join for as little as $50 a year.
According to Varnum, organizations that join the NYAC Network will have access to a “Members Only” section of the agency’s website and a customized listserv for advance notice of NYAC publications, announcements and program invitations. Additional benefits of membership include:
• Complimentary copies of NYAC publications
• Technical Assistance on organizational development topics including
fundraising, online solicitation, and grant writing
• Invitations to the NYAC reception at Creating Change
• Access to NYAC’s Youth Institute at Creating Change
• Youth Leadership opportunities including, a seat on the Youth Accountability Council and Youth Summer Internships at NYAC’s headquarters in Washington, DC
• Website and database hosting
• Emergency advocacy in times of public tragedy and/or fiscal crisis
Organizations within the NYAC Network will collectively also be featured in NYAC’s newsletter “IMPACT,” invited to attend quarterly conference calls with Varnum and have representation on NYAC’s board of directors.
“It was important to us that local and state organizations really feel empowered about their participation in LGBTQI youth advocacy,” Varnum explained. “So we made sure to include opportunities for smaller agencies to have a real impact in the work that we do nationally.”
The National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) is a social justice organization that advocates for and with young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning in an effort to end discrimination against these youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well being. For more information, please visit www.nyacyouth.org.
