Com­ing Soon: LGBTQ+ Center

September 20, 2019

Accord­ing to the Human Rights Cam­paign, 42% of les­bian, gay, bisex­u­al, trans­gen­der, and/​or queer/​questioning youth say the com­mu­ni­ty in which they live is not accept­ing of LGBTQ+ peo­ple. One in four LGBTQ+ youth say their biggest prob­lems are not feel­ing accept­ed by their fam­i­ly, trou­ble at school, bul­ly­ing, and fear to be out/​open. Non-LGBTQ+ stu­dents report their great­est con­cerns are trou­ble with class, exams, and grades. Look­ing at the research we can infer that LGBTQ+ ser­vices are need­ed with­in the community. 

As part of Ken­neth Young Center’s mis­sion to sup­port youth, we are proud to announce the open­ing of our LGBTQ+ Youth and Young Adult Cen­ter: a safe space for youth and allies to learn about self-expres­sion and iden­ti­ty, while build­ing strong inter­per­son­al con­nec­tions with oth­er LGBTQ+ youth (11−17) and young adults (18−24). Open­ing on Nation­al Com­ing Out Day, Fri­day Octo­ber 11^th, the LGBTQ+ Cen­ter will have a grand open­ing from 4:00pm‑7:30pm to intro­duce this new space to youth, young adults, fam­i­lies, and our com­mu­ni­ty. Vis­it us at 650 E. Algo­nquin Road, Suite 104, in Schaum­burg as we wel­come Cook Coun­ty Board Com­mis­sion­er Kevin Mor­ri­son (15^th Dis­trict) to assist with the rib­bon cut­ting cel­e­bra­tion. Please RSVP here.

LGBTQ+ Teen & Young Adult meet­ings will begin at the end of Octo­ber for teens and young adults to address the dis­tinc­tive needs of each age group. 

Teens (11−17) Fall Sched­ule: Octo­ber 7, Octo­ber 21, Novem­ber 4, and Novem­ber 18
Young Adults (18−24) Fall Sched­ule: Octo­ber 15, Octo­ber 29, Novem­ber 12, and Novem­ber 26

Ken­neth Young Center’s Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lab­o­ra­tion divi­sion will also part­ner with local school dis­tricts, orga­ni­za­tions and col­leges to pro­vide addi­tion­al resources to imple­ment inclu­sive cur­ric­u­la and/​or poli­cies, pre­vent bul­ly­ing, pro­mote safe learn­ing envi­ron­ments, and work with par­ents to sup­port fam­i­lies with healthy dia­logues with youth and young adults.

Please join us in cel­e­brat­ing this new ser­vice to the com­mu­ni­ty as we sup­port all youth and young adults to build strong inter­per­son­al rela­tion­ships, men­tal health strate­gies, access to sup­port, and edu­ca­tion­al programming!

To learn more about the LGBTQ+ Cen­ter, email lgbtqcenter@​kennethyoung.​org.

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