The Kingsbridge Heights Community Center’s (KHCC) Teen Center provides academic support, STEM, arts and sports programming, college access activities, internships and leadership development. Community Center staff have observed that Teen Center participants display negative feelings about youth in the LGBTQ community, and this has made it difficult for KHCC to recruit and retain LGBTQ youth in Teen Center. Further, KHCC staff lack the necessary training to effectively address bias incidents when they occur. With this grant, KHCC will engage two external consultants, Horace Mann Institute and Transgender Equity Consulting, to update curricula and provide training to staff to make the program more inclusive to LGBTQ youth. The organization will also aim to launch a new LGBTQ Youth Council to engage students to promote voice and choice, which KHCC hopes will facilitate recruitment of more LGBTQ youth. Ultimately, KHCC seeks to create a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQ youth.
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center wants to improve its Teen Center, which serves Bronx high school students ages 13-21.
