Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

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~ California Endowment Supports Expansion of GenderYOUTH to At-Risk Teens~

WASHINGTON (May 8, 2007) -- The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) 
today announced a grant from The California Endowment for the expansion of 
the GenderYOUTH Network into high schools.  The Network's "peer2peer" 
initiative will train college student leaders to outreach to and mentor 
at-risk LGBT and gender non-conforming high school teens.  The California 
Teachers Association has endorsed the project and will be partnering in its 
completion. 

GenderPAC has opened a satellite office in San Francisco to help implement 
the new project. The project will help implement key suggestions made by the 
California Safe Schools Coalition and the California Student Safety and 
Violence Prevention Act.

"The ability of all California's students to have access to safe, secure 
learning environments is aligned with the work of the California Endowment's 
Community Health and Elimination of Disparities Goal," said Adele James, 
Program Officer for the California Endowment - North State Region.  "We are 
pleased to support this innovative pilot project to help change attitudes and 
norms in the school environment that support the prevention of gender-based 
violence."
        
"peer2peer" will train college students in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San 
Diego to be certified peer counselors for high school youth who are at-risk 
for bullying because of their gender identity and expression. peer2peer's 
ultimate goal is to develop a replicable program that other youth and college 
groups can use across the country.

"The best way to challenge intolerance towards gender non-conformity is to 
have youth talking directly to youth," said Eric Heins, a member of the 
California Teachers Association Board of Directors. "That's why 'peer2peer' 
is such an important pilot and we're proud to partner with GenderPAC on it."

A forthcoming University of Illinois study of high school students found 61 
percent witnessed peers who were not "masculine or feminine enough" being 
called names and verbally harassed; 45% saw them being ostracized and 
excluded from groups; and 20% saw physically assaulted: pushed, shoved, or 
hit.

Said Lindsay Bond, GenderYOUTH Regional Field Director, "So many of the 
college students we work with have experienced gender-based bullying 
themselves and are eager to reach out to younger students to ensure that the 
same thing doesn't happen to them. The California Endowment gift of $60,000 
will make it possible for us to harness the power of student-to-student 
interaction by training college and community youth to mentor at-risk 
students in local high schools."

The California Endowment's mission is to expand access to affordable, quality 
health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote 
fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. To learn 
more about the Endowment, visit www.calendow.org.

The GenderYOUTH Network empowers youth leaders to build safer classrooms and 
communities where all youth can learn, grow and succeed, whether or not they 
conform to expectations for masculinity and femininity.  To support the 
GenderYOUTH Network, visit www.gpac.org/give.

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