By Laurie Geier
AmeriCorps VIP Fellow
Between, tests, research, essays, and other coursework, sometimes assignments seem like another item to check off a student’s to-do list. Sometimes, however, that work can light a spark that leads a student to a larger purpose. For Cameron Bartosiewicz, he was researching for a Communications project and stumbled upon an issue that piqued his interest. Now, as a CSU Channel Islands junior, he has nearly a year of service as the president the Youth Pride Association (YPA), a local non-profit, underway.
“I kept coming across articles about the issues facing LGBTQ+ students, and it kind of aligned with my own personal experiences.” Cameron had been active in service-work well before entering middle school. And in addition to participating in different service events with CSUCI, he and his colleagues actively reach out to high schools to help reduce the information gap on sexual orientation and gender identity. “At Youth Pride Association, we aim to promote and foster the acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in schools. We go into high schools, and I guess colleges at this point, and run a couple of programs to educate everyone and support individual LGBTQ+ students.”
So, what motived Cameron to do this work? “My most recent stint is motivated by a desire to improve the lives of the individuals preceding me: the students who are still suffering from a lot of this. The volunteer work done before me made it a lot easier. Conditions have kind of improved and I want to continue the trend.” The issue that YPA addresses are layered. Providing students with educational support is their approach to reducing the mental health and equity disparities between heterosexual-identifying individuals and individuals within the LGBTQ+ community. For example,
- LGBTQ+ youth are 2.9x more likely to consider suicide, 4.6x more likely to attempt suicide, and nearly 5x more likely to require hospitalization after a suicide attempt.
- 95% of students heard anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and negative comments at school.
- The rate of substance abuse is 2-4 times higher for LGBTQ+ youths than their heterosexual peers.
- 19.4% of hate crimes are directed at LGBTQ+ individuals, 10% of which occur on school grounds.
It is likely that these numbers have largely increased during COVID-19 due to isolation, adding to the number of individuals who abuse substances, have depression, or have suicidal behaviors. YPA’s educational outreach efforts are of extreme importance in getting tools and information shared with students so that they can navigate difficult conversations regarding gender identity and sexual orientation. “My philosophy is that it is harder to put someone into an outgroup and treat someone like trash when you’ve humanized them. Our goal is to educate individuals the best that we can.”
Learn more about Youth Pride Association at https://www.ypapride.org/
Interested in joining the team? Youth Pride Association is looking for Peer Advocates! E-mail president@yapride.org to apply!