Thanks to generous support from Rocking Moon Foundation, OUT Maine has formed a Youth Advisory Board to guide the organization’s future programming for LGBTQ+* and allied youth.
OUT Maine provides programming for LGBTQ+ youth, their families, and adults who work with youth.
The OUT Maine Youth Advisory Board is an integral component of the growth of OUT Maine. The youth members provide invaluable perspectives, ideas, and visions for the future of the youth programs, policies, and recommendations for schools and community-based youth-serving organizations. The Advisory Board provides a youth voice to the OUT Maine Board of Directors, giving valuable feedback to the leadership of the organization.
The Youth Advisory Board members were recruited through GSTAs** statewide and is comprised of youth ages 14- 20 years old from across the state.
The Youth Advisory Board is facilitated by OUT Maine’s Youth Engagement Coordinator Maggie Hirshland.
“Working with the Youth Advisory Board is one of my favorite things I get to do with my job,” says Maggie, “and I feel so lucky to be able to meet and work with such inspiring youth from across the state. I learn so much from them every day, and their ideas, passions, and perspectives give me hope that the world we live in can and will be better. I’m so excited to see what these youth are able to do together in the Board and beyond, and I urge all community members across the state to listen to, and elevate, the voices of youth as often as possible, and create opportunities for youth to make change, and be in positions of leadership.”
OUT Maine has an ambitious goal: to create more welcoming and affirming communities for Maine’s diverse queer youth in all their intersectional identities by changing the very systems that serve them. For more information, please visit www.outmaine.org.
*LGBTQ+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning.
** GSTA stands for Gay, Straight, Trans Alliance.