Spotlight on Young Adults is a quarterly newsletter dedicated to promoting resources, perspectives, and organizations that support youth and young adult (YYA) advocates, advocates for YYA, and YYA-serving professionals.
Reach out to our YYA Lead Kristin Thorp to let us know what you think of Spotlight on Young Adults! What would you like to see more of? Who do you want to hear from?
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Meet Redwood Youth Move: Humboldt County Transition Age Youth Collaboration
HCTAYC works to empower youth through understanding that young people are experts in the systems that impact them, and that this expertise is vital in system transformation. HCTAYC helps to foster and build skills in the areas of youth development, policy change, youth advocacy, community engagement, and wellness. The organization trains youth, staff, and community partners on more effectively engaging youth and developing youth-informed approaches.
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Meet: Nakiya
Nakiya (They/Them) is a 22-year-old genderqueer person, lesbian, and self-described “fire cracker.” They are passionate, direct, outgoing, and known for their interesting fashion choices and bright green hair. Nakiya is ardent about pressing for inclusivity and intersectionality in Black and LGBTQ+ spaces. Through their advocacy, they hope to teach LGBTQ youth and parents of LGBTQ+ youth about important topics, including sexual health. When they’re not scrolling through Twitter, spending time with friends, or at their job at the local Department of Social Services, they can be found at a rally or at an event speaking on behalf of queer foster youth. They love to laugh almost as much as they love justice and making sure everyone has equal access to resources, support, and community inclusivity. Check out their blog on disability justice in youth peer support spaces.
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LGBTQ+ youth need safe opportunities to chat with others like them within a structure that encourages compassionate interactions and discourages bullying and harassment. LGBTQ+ young people face many obstacles to accessing in-person resources, from a lack of transportation to an understandable hesitancy to attend face-to-face groups. Q Chat Space brings a core service of an LGBTQ+ community center—a support group—directly to the teen’s digital device. Q Chat Space provides live, chat-based, professionally facilitated, online support and discussion groups for LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-19. Conversations are facilitated by experienced staff who work at LGBTQ+ centers around the United States.
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Learning Community for Young Professionals Who Work with Young Adults
Every Fourth Wednesday | Next Session: July 27
(Wednesday) 3-4 p.m. PT / 12-1 p.m. HT / 11 a.m.-12 p.m. American Samoa
(Thursday) 10-11 a.m. Marshall Islands / 9-10 a.m. Pohnpei, Kosrae / 8-9 a.m. Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Chuuk, Yap / 7-8 a.m. Palau (view your time zone)
Last month, to celebrate Pride season, we discussed how to better serve and support LGBTQ+ young people. We had conversations about proper pronoun usage and the spectrums of gender identity and orientation. Join us in July as we continue the conversation of affirming those who identify as LGBTQ+ and share ways to more effectively be an ally in our communities and organizations. We will focus on the coming out process, allyship, and ways to implement safe and inclusive spaces.
These monthly forums are an opportunity to connect with others who share a passion for developmentally appropriate and appealing supports for youth and young adults. We hope you will join us for collective skill-building, engaging conversations, and networking with other young professionals!
Facilitators
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Kristin Thorp, MPP
Youth Program Director, Youth MOVE National
Kristin has ten years of experience in advocacy and youth leadership and program development, with a special focus on the mental health and criminal justice systems. She is a national technical assistance provider on the development, implementation, and sustainability of quality youth programming and she supports organizations to develop meaningful and mutual partnerships with youth, young adults, and system leaders. Kristin is an advisor on the System of Care Children’s Mental Health Initiative and supports the implementation of national evaluation efforts. Kristin has utilized her own lived experience, passion, and expertise in the field of positive youth development to promote trauma-informed approaches to recovery.
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Te Jay McGrath
Youth Program Specialist, Youth MOVE National
Te Jay brings many years of professional and lived experience to the Youth MOVE team. Not only has he directly served and supported many types of young adults, especially those experiencing homelessness, he has also worked on policy changes related to LGBTQ+ initiatives, anti-bullying efforts, and public health inequities. Te Jay has been performing all around southern California as his drag persona, Tia Wanna, for over 9 years. Originally from Hawaii, Te Jay is a Korean American who now resides in Los Angeles, which he has called home for over a decade.
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Youth Coordinators Office Hour
Every Fourth Thursday | Next Session: July 28, 2022
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Leadership Matters: The Online Course
September 6 – October 7, 2022
This instructor-led online course, offered by the University of Minnesota, explores key issues in supervision and leadership of youth work organizations. Online activities include both synchronized group time and individual self-paced learning. Over the course of a month, participants can expect to spend an average of 5 hours/week, up to 15 hours total.
Topics include:
- Context for youth work supervision
- Leadership vs. management
- Strengths-based leadership
- Professionalizing youth work
- Core competencies for youth workers and youth work supervisors
- Action plan
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Join the Youth and Young Adult Peer Support Discord Server!
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Youth Advisory Board Opportunity for Students of Color
The Steve Fund is currently recruiting high school, undergraduate, and graduate students to be a part of their 2022-2023 Youth Advisory Board (YAB). The Steve Fund is a national organization that is dedicated to supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color. The YAB engages students of color across the nation in discussions about ongoing issues and the needs of their peers. YAB members will join a community of the next generation of mental health advocates and leaders of color, as well as represent the Steve Fund in activities such as panel discussions, media interviews, and content development.
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New Episode: Youth Taking Action Audio Stories
Audio Stories – Youth Taking Action is a miniseries sponsored by the NTTAC and Youth MOVE National. Audio Stories look at the important work that youth and young adults across the nation are doing related to mental health and youth-serving systems change. The new episode, Youth-Driven Organizational Development, features the young founders of NEST4US, a nonprofit philanthropic platform for mobilizing volunteers.
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CDC Survey Finds the Pandemic Had a Big Impact on Teens' Mental Health
According to a survey published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than four in 10 teens report feeling "persistently sad or hopeless" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Girls were twice as likely to experience mental health troubles compared to boys. And LGBTQ+ youth were hit the hardest. From January to June 2021, CDC conducted the Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES), an online survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. students in grades 9–12. ABES data were also used to estimate the prevalence of disruptions and adverse experiences during the pandemic, including parental and personal job loss, homelessness, hunger, abuse by a parent or other adult at home, and difficulty completing schoolwork.
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System of Care Stories Blog Post: 5 Things about Queer Intimate Partner Violence You Should Know
Sawyer Keegan is a young adult advocate and a nonbinary, queer, disabled activist with lived experience as a psychiatric trauma survivor. In this blog post from the System of Care Stories series, they share recommendations for supporting youth and young adults who are LGBTQ+ and experiencing Intimate Partner Violence.
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Contact the Pacific Southwest MHTTC
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Disclaimer: This announcement is supported by SAMHSA of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award over four years (2019-2023) with 100 percent funded by SAMHSA/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by SAMHSA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
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