Community Agreements

Everything I need to Know About ACCESS

ACCESS Application and Survey Results

Application:
http://www.lyric.org/lyric_dev/accessap.html

Survey results:
http://www.lyric.org/lyric_dev/accessres.html

Who Will I Be Partnering With?

LYRIC (Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center)
www.lyric.org

Mission
LYRIC's mission is to build community and inspire positive social change through education enhancement, career training, health promotion, and leadership development with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth, their families, and allies of all races, classes, genders, and abilities.

CUAV (Community United Against Violence)
www.cuav.org

Mission
CUAV's mission is to prevent and respond to violence against and within our diverse LGBTQQ communities. We accomplish this through peer-based counseling, direct assistance, education and outreach, grassroots organizing, and policy advocacy.

YIF (Youth In Focus)
www.youthinfocus.net

Mission
Youth In Focus educates underrepresented youth and adult partners in youth-led action research, evaluation and planning (Y-REP) to create the conditions for social justice.

What Is The Purpose Of This Project?

The goals of the ACCESS project are to:
· Deepen the San Francisco provider community's understanding and awareness of issues affecting LGBTQQ youth and their families;
· Strengthen the infrastructure of existing community-based organizations to better serve LGBTQQ persons;
· Build bridges among and between LGBTQ communities and other communities;
· Empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth to take a leadership role to eliminate barriers to their full participation and representation in the community;
· Increase the visibility of LGBTQQ youth and their families and their access to important community services.

What Do I Get Out Of Participating?

The goals of the ACCESS project are to:
· A GRANT: Your organization will receive a $2500 grant for its participation in this project.
· TRAINING: You will receive trainings that are tailored to the specific needs of your organization.
· CONNECTIONS: You will forge connections with other community-based organizations: the 3 agencies coordinating the ACCESS Project and other participating DCYF grantees selected to be a part of the ACCESS project. As currently planned, the ACCESS project will be supporting two cohorts of three CBOs - each for a period of six months (1/08 to 7/08 and 9/08 to 2/08).
· SUPPORT: You will be provided with opportunities to meet, share experiences and problem-solve with other participants of the project at strategic points in the process, at gatherings facilitated by the Executive Directors of LYRIC and CUAV.

What Is The Approach Of This Project?

Organizations in San Francisco are well known for creating programs that are models in the field of youth development. We also know that you understand the needs of the youth that you serve and their communities and how to meet those needs. We hope to harness your expertise and build upon the fabulous work that you're already doing. Our approach to capacity building involves meeting you and your organization where you're at, in order to help you improve your ability to serve LGBTQQ youth. Using strong youth development principles, teams comprising of youth interns and a staff member of either CUAV or LYRIC will work in partnership with you and your community organization, in order to identify your strengths in various areas of youth development and to utilize those strengths to improve your capacity to serve LGBTQQ youth.

Timeline

When?	What Will Participation Actually Look Like?
November/December 07 Application Process	1) Contact Jodi to express interest in participating 2) Receive your application packet (1st round release date: Nov 15, 2007 - go to www.lyric.org) 3) Return completed packet to Jodi by email, fax or mail by Friday, December 7 4) All packets will be reviewed to assess need, fit and capacity 5) You will be notified of your invitation to participate by Friday, December 21
January 08 Orientation	Attend the ACCESS CBO Cohort Orientation where you will be introduced to: 1) the 2 other organizations who will be participating with you 2) the youth/adult team that you will be partnering with 3) the timeline for the project
February-April 08 Needs Assessment Process	Each participating organization will be partnered with a team of 2-3 youth interns and 1 staff member from either CUAV or LYRIC. You will be led through a needs assessment process, where a survey will be distributed to members of your organization, which will ideally include youth, staff, board, volunteers and any other groups of people who are invested in or will be impacted by the growth of your organization.
May/June 08 Training Process	Using the results of the needs assessment, you will receive training drawn from a core set of training modules, which will be tailored to meet the needs of your organization.
July 08 Institutionalization/Evaluation	After receiving training, you will enter an institutionalization phase to put into practice what you have learned. To close your experience, you will give us feedback to inform how we best serve organizations in the future.