Post submitted by Kimmie Fink, Welcoming Schools Consultant

This weekend, the Welcoming Schools staff will join youth-serving professionals and organizations from around the nation at the fourth annual Time to THRIVE conference in Washington, D.C.  

Welcoming Schools is featured in a number of panels and breakout sessions. Director of Welcoming Schools Johanna Eager will facilitate a workshop on “The Teachable Moment:  Responding to LGBTQ and Gender Comments and Questions” and Eager will open and close the conference with a workshop focused on “Intersectionality and Privilege.”  Welcoming Schools Deputy Director Cheryl Greene will lend her expertise on bullying prevention to her session, “An Intersectional Approach to Proactive Measures that Prevent Bias-Based Bullying.”

This year, several of our national Welcoming Schools Certified Facilitators are getting in on the action. Todd Rosendahl will join Eager in a presentation on “Creating Gender-Inclusive Schools for All Students.” In her role with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Susanne Schmal will facilitate a workshop entitled “Supporting Transgender Students: A Primer for School Administrators.”

Time to THRIVE attracts a wide variety of attendees, including K-12 educators, mental health providers, pediatricians, religious leaders, recreational athletic coaches, and youth development staff (Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, scout leaders, etc.).

For K-12 educator attendees, Welcoming Schools recommends other sessions that are especially relevant to that role: “Connect, Accept, Respond, Empower: How to Support LGBTQ Youth in the Classroom” by The Trevor Project; “Engaging Parents and Guardians In The Quest For Gender-Inclusive Schools (and Other Spaces)” by Gender Spectrum; “A School’s Duty: Respecting the Rights and Identities of LGBTQ and Gender-Expansive Youth” by Lambda Legal.

You can expect all this and much more from this year’s Time to THRIVE. Welcoming Schools is proud to be a part of this vital work promoting safety, inclusion, and well-being for LGBTQ youth… everywhere!

Now more than ever, LGBTQ youth need to know they have support.  You can become a better advocate by attending HRC’s Time to THRIVE conference, the nation’s premier convening for K-12 educators, professional counselors and other youth-serving professionals on LGBTQ youth safety, inclusion and well-being.  The 2017 conference will be held April 28-30 in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the National Education Association and the American Counseling Association.  

HRC's Welcoming Schools is the nation's premier program dedicated to creating respectful and supportive elementary schools in embracing family diversity, creating LGBTQ-inclusive schools, preventing bias-based bullying, creating gender-expansive schools, and supporting transgender and non-binary students.