COLAGE is a program of Family Equality Council that works to build a national network of support for youth and adult children in LGBTQIA+ families. COLAGE runs a summer camp called Family Week, hosts seasonal events across the country, and provides online communities and support for COLAGErs (youth and adult children in LGBTQIA+ families).

Youth Action Board members oversee and have input in all of COLAGE's work to make sure all of the programs are in alignment with COLAGE"s mission to support youth and adult children in LGBTQIA+ families. Youth Action Board members also organize  their own virtual youth-led projects with peers and other volunteers across the country.

The COLAGE Youth Advisory Board was created in the fall of 2013, to provide more ways for our youth, ages 13-21, to have direct involvement in developing programs and projects within COLAGE. The youth decide together what they need more of from COLAGE and our Program Director makes it happen! Currently, the YAB has started two projects that both create more community, visibility and a venue for their voices to be amplified.

Being a part of the YAB means that you will either lead or help lead one of the YAB projects. You will also be able to think of new projects and share your ideas with the group. Leading a project looks like working with a team of YAB members and other youth volunteers to make sure the projects runs smoothly. This can look like following up with volunteers via text to make sure they send you a blog post on time for the blog or writing a blog post yourself and posting it on the site. Project tasks vary by project and the teams generally talk often.

1) COLAGE Family is an online safe place via Facebook for folks 13+ who want to connect with others across the country (and world!) who share the experience of having one or more Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and or Queer parent or caregiver. COLAGErs use this group to ask questions, share stories, post videos or related articles. In this space, folks who are from all over the country and world, who often don’t have any other ways to access families like theirs, can create community, support each other, and become strong advocates for themselves and their families. Currently we have hundreds of members and are led by three youth leaders who are part of the Youth Advisory Board.
 
2) The Kid Safe Blog is a blog that unites youth who have lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer parents into an online network of peers. We are youth ages 12-adult (however you define that) who have have lesbian, gay, biseuxal, transgender and queer parent(s)/caregiver(s) from all over the country.
We created this blog to document the struggles, rewards and experiences that come along with having one or more LGBTQ parent, that is so rarely seen in the world at large. It is a way of reminding each other that we are never alone, and there will always be a network of people to turn to. This blog is important because it strives to make a safe place where kids and teens can ask questions about everything related to having an LGBTQ parent. This blog will help youth teach other youth how to be get through bullying and help them stop it. We will be posting our own stories, thoughts and ideas here as well as answering questions submitted by YOU!
Kids and teens should feel at home on this blog; They should feel that they always have a community to talk to. Overall this blog is an online safe haven for the youth in our community. (Please note, current members have decided it would be best to archive this for now, but if you are interested in bringing it back and recruiting new writers, we would be happy to support you.)
 
3) The COLAGE YAB Instagram is an instagram page used to bring visibility to our lives in an attempt to normalize the perception of our families. We are transitioning from the Kid Safe Blog to the Instagram page to reach a larger portion of our target audience. The page will serve to post annoncements, but also be used for blog posts/ spotlights of members of our community and will continue the tradition of Instagram story takeovers leading up to and during Family Week. This is a new project so we are looking for any and all input on how to make it a success!
 
Or propose your own project!

The COLAGE Youth Action Board welcomes and embraces all voices of youth ages 13-21 who have one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual parent or caregiver. If you wish to join our board, we expect you to participate with your ideas, dreams and voice, be committed and contribute to the team by turning in projects on time, replying to email within a week and joining our virtual YAB meetings.

The YAB as a whole meets four times a year for 30 minutes to one hour on video conference calls and attendance to those meetings is mandatory. We have a yearly celebration in the late summer in Provincetown, MA during our Family Week that we welcome all YAB members to attend. The YAB also helps raise money for COLAGE during the year by providing quotes and sharing fundraising pictures and links.

- COLAGE Youth Action Board members get to hear exclusive COLAGE news before the rest of the community hears about it!
- COLAGE Youth Action Board members get to have a say when COLAGE hires new staff and members even get the opportunity to interview potential candidates.
- COLAGE Youth Action Board members get to call the shots! We mean it when we say we are by and for us.
- As a YAB member, you are the first youth COLAGE staff members go to when they are looking for youth leaders for fun opportunities. COLAGE offers all expense paid leadership opportunities for YAB members like being able to fly across the country to speak on a panel, traveling to a conference to lead a workshop or being asked to provide a quote and picture for holidays! COLAGE wants your voice to be heard and we will help make that happen in lots of fun and unique ways of your choosing.
- You can log your time working with the YAB as volunteer hours.
- Being on the YAB looks great on a resume or college application!

Please let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to hearing from you!

-COLAGE Youth Advisory Board

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