Empower 6 Young NYC Social Justice Policy Fellows!

Thanks to your generous support, our second cohort of Youth Policy Fellows is well on their way to making powerful change and finishing up a successful year!

The fellows are combining efforts to focus on creating a LGBTQ+ youth safe haven by planning monthly dinners, selling merchandise, and providing resources to all youth in NYC that identifies with this demographic. We hope this will lessen the risk factors that some of these youth may face such as suicide, homelessness, self-harm etc.

The fellows chose this issue because it is one of urgency as this moment especially when we hear about stories like that of Nigel Shelby, a 15 year old boy from Alabama who committed suicide due to bullying about his sexual orientation. These stories are more common than not and it is important that youth like Nigel have a place where they can be themselves.

As you may know, this year’s cohort was comprised of female identifying young people - all of which identify as people of color. For co-facilitators Sophie and Sam this added another layer of excitement because we barely hear of the women who lead the fight when it comes to social justice. So they wanted to make sure to uplift their voices as not only young people but also as girls of color.

We all hope you can attend the Youth Policy Fellowship celebration this Thursday, May 16th at 4 pm at the University Settlement at the Houston Street Center 273 Bowery, New York, NY 10002. You can RSVP here, and are more than welcome to bring friends, families, and allies! We hope to celebrate the fellow’s hard work and determination to creating positive change in their communities.

RAP is so proud the fellows are but we are so excited to see what life after RAP has to offer the youth -- now that they have started these very important conversations and have ignited their passions of advocacy!

Links:

• Youth Policy Fellowship Graduation Invitation

• Graduation Flyer (PDF)