Photo by Katharine Kimball
Climbing Up, Climbing Out (CUCO)
Through a combination of funds from the Liberty Hill Queer Youth Fund, Santa Fe Community Foundation, United Way of Santa Fe County and other private donors, we provide an adventure empowerment program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) young people and their straight allies. Through facilitated adventure activities, CUCO provides LGBTQ youth a safe place to express themselves, nurture positive identity development, build resiliency against homophobia and oppression, and be mentored by LGBTQ adults and allies. Programs include the Anti-Bullying Initiative, NM GSA (Gay/Straight Alliance) Network (described below), School GSA Conference, and the All Colors Youth Summit.
The objective of New Mexico GSA Network is to support young people by promoting individual growth, self-esteem, and empowerment in order to start, strengthen, and sustain their GSAs. The NM GSA Network builds the capacity of GSAs to create safe environments in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions; educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues; and fight discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools. Our overall strategy is to train youth to organize their own campaigns to bring about social justice. Our networking and leadership training programs develop youth leaders who are capable of effecting positive change in their schools and communities. This project is led by youth because we believe that youth have the power to create solutions and lead the fight against homophobia and oppression.
For more information:
Call the NM GSA Network Hotline at 983-6158 x33Or contact:
Cooper Lee Bombardier, NM Gay Straight Alliance Network Coordinator
(505) 983-6158 x 21
cooper@santafemc.org