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About
Us Our Mission ~ Our Role ~ Our History Our Leadership ~ Our Member Organizations ~ Our Donors ~ Our Volunteers Our Mailing Address for Information ~ Our Mailing Address for Finances ~ Our Mailing Address for Membership Our Crisis Phone ~ Our Message Phone ~ Our Email Addresses This page was last updated on 08/17/10. If you know of errors please click here to let us know. | |
The Safe Schools Coalition is an international public-private partnership in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, that is working to help schools - at home and all over the world - become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
We used to be the 'Safe Schools Coalition of Washington,' but now we proudly serve a world-wide constituency -- with some services specifically for our Washington members. Our role is to reduce bias-based bullying and violence in schools and to help schools better meet the needs of sexual minority youth and children with sexual minority parents/guardians locally, nationally and internationally, by ...
providing resources to schools (posters, publications),
raising parent/guardian, student, educator and community awareness (list serve, website, public speaking, media),
providing skill-based training for educators (administrators and other professional and paraprofessional staff),
serving as a technical advisory resource (to researchers, policy-makers, educators and activists -- students, parents/guardians, community members), and
conducting and disseminating research (to educators, policy-makers and activists).
The Safe Schools Coalition also serves the community within Washington State by ...
intervening and advocating on behalf of individual students, educators and families experiencing sexual orientation/identity-based harassment and violence, and
holding legislators, school boards and school administrators accountable for making schools safe and free of bias-based bullying and violence, through community organizing and principled activism.
1988 -- Seattle Commission on Children and Youth holds hearings on the needs of gay and lesbian youth in Seattle 1988 -- the Commission issues a report including twenty-one recommendations for addressing those needs and convenes an ad hoc “Advisory Committee on Gay/Lesbian Youth and Schools” to offer technical assistance to the school district in implementing the recommendations that are school-specific 1989-1990 -- The Advisory Committee:1991 -- The Advisory Committee, since has gradually begun serving a wider geographic area than Seattle, spins off from the Seattle Commission, becoming the "Schools Committee" of the American Friends Service Committee's GLBT Youth Program 1991 – The Schools Committee:
assists the Seattle School District in training staff
contributes technical assistance that results in several policy changes
gradually begins to consult with other King County school districts
1992 – The Schools Committee:
serves as a clearinghouse for various organizations' efforts to help schools become safe and healthy places for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth
continues to assist the Seattle School District in training staff -- initially principals and counselors -- regarding the special needs of sexual minority youth
1993 – The Schools Committee, now working for statewide school safety, spins off once again, becoming the "Safe Schools Coalition of Washington"
develops resource notebooks for Seattle School Counselors
publishes a revised version of the State Superintendent’s "Guidelines for Identifying Bias," a tool for assessing the inclusiveness and respectfulness of curricula and library resources
helps AFSC expand its training efforts to public and private schools outside of Seattle
brings Equity Institute trainers to Washington State to provide a weekend workshop on equity issues for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender educators and youth workers
1993-1998 – Safe Schools Coalition:
provides testimony to legislators regarding the potential impacts of bills and technical assistance regarding their wording
continues to sponsor or cosponsor training events for educators and community groups, including workshops on "coming out” for educators, the Bullyproof curriculum, and "anti-gay harassment and violence and schools"
produces three powerful public service announcements for television, challenging adults to "be there for every child"
publishes a first-of-its-kind Safe Schools Resource Guide, to assist educators in making appropriate community referrals and in accessing resources such as books, videos, websites, posters, theater troupes and curricula
conducts a landmark five-year qualitative study entitled the "Safe Schools Anti-Violence Documentation Project," documenting incidents of anti-gay harassment and violence in Washington schools (K-12) *
begins providing advocacy and intervention for individual students, educators and families … assistance communicating with administrators, police, and/or attorneys
proudly accepts awards for leadership in violence prevention and civil rights from the City of Seattle and Providence Medical Center, the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Equality Washington
Fall 2001 – In recognition of our growing e-services and training on an international scale, the Coalition launched this new web site, dropped the "of Washington" from our name and changed our mission. Our mission became, "A Public-Private Partnership in Support of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth is to help schools - at home and all over the world - become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation."
2006 – Safe Schools Coalition became a member of National Safe Schools Roundtable.
June 2008 – The Coalition turns 20, and is honored as a grand marshal at Seattle Pride.
February 2009 – We have our "2008 Annual Website Report And Decade Comparison" here: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/2008AnnualWebsiteReportAndDecadeComparison.pdf (pdf format)
Note: The term "anti-gay" is used here to denote incidents motivated by bias against gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people. Some of those targeted are actually heterosexual; the bias is the critical factor.
Co-Chairs:
Frieda Takamura, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=13 or call 253-765-7062
Beth Reis, Public Health - Seattle & King County, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=1 or call 206-296-4970
Marsha Botzer, Ingersoll Gender Center, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=15
Co-Secretaries:
Heather Carter, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=39
Paul Christainsen, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=41
Matt Munson, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=42
Speakers Bureau Manager: Briana Herman-Brand, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=9 or call 206-451-SAFE (7233)
Intervention Team Leader: Penny Palmer, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=16
Membership Chair & Webspinner: Gabi Clayton, http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=11
Our Listserv Managers - see http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/listserve_sendnews.html
Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable - http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/contact/?id=17
Our Member Organizations (current as of 08/17/10) top of page Interested in joining the coalition? See this page.