2023 Year in Review
As we get into the swing of the new year, we want to take a moment and reflect on 2023. Youth OUTright has experienced some incredible growth over the past year and we’ve also seen a frightening rise of transphobic behaviors, ideas, and misinformation. Not just locally, but across the south and the country at large. Let us celebrate our community by sharing the story of our joy, resilience, and resistance.
In 2022 an intergenerational collection of local queer leaders put immense intellectual energy, time, and heart into crafting new statements to guide our work in ways that feel aligned with our organizational values. We strengthened our commitment to Racial and Gender Justice, and grounded our strategies in youth self-determination. As we navigated 2023, we had these core organizational principles guiding our approach to the work.
The big question for the year was: How will we operationalize this mission and these values?
We began to answer that question through a strategic planning process that we began in July of 2023 with Colibri Consulting. Cradled by the Great Smoky Mountains, we convened organizational leadership and began charting the direction of the organization for the coming three years. We acknowledged and celebrated the growth we’ve experienced, through pandemic and legislative attacks we have persisted and succeeded in creating spaces for young Trans and Queer folks to heal, grow and organize together. In this chapter of Youth OUTright’s evolution, our focus has become sustainability.
Our new strategic plan has four pillars:
Operations & Systems - We seek to codify our culture through clear policies and protocols.
People & Culture - We are working to ground ourselves in queer Joy while holding each other accountable to our mission.
Board & Executive Leadership - Our movement is a leaderful one and we are continuing to learn how best to collaborate and deepen our working relationships.
Fundraising and Resource Development - Through deep relationships with our community we aim to be able to resource our work abundantly.
We look forward to sharing more about our three-year strategic plan soon!
To recap some 2023 highlights… Let’s celebrate the blooms in our rose garden!
We brought back the GSA Summit! Over 80 youth participated, with 40 adult allies in attendance, youth facilitators led the workshops, and each facilitator was paired with a mentor to help them develop their content and each youth facilitator was paid for their time and expertise. The GSA Summit continues to be a container that activates and inspires youth leaders while also connecting Queer and Trans youth to a healthy intergenerational community. Shout out to Warren Wilson College for hosting us!
Goth Prom 2023 was one for the books! Rain or shine, our black lipstick persisted. Every year our community comes together to throw one heck of a great party y’all. Queer Prom is often a highlight of the year for the sheer queer joy of it all. Our prom is not only gender-affirming but also financially accessible. No one is turned away for lack of funds, never have been, never will be. Youth and volunteers collaborated to create decorations to really bring the theme to realization. Goth Prom featured stone archways, cobwebs, ravens, and coffins! Local queer DJ’s drove the dancefloor and local drag performers served a fantastic show! Prom wouldn’t be possible without an incredible community effort, we’re grateful to be able to revel in our queerness together.
The Youth Pride Zone at Blue Ridge Pride was incredible! Leaders from our Stonewall Family Picnic program created a youth pride committee and turned it out. The Youth Zone included art making, community care, and advocacy activities. Our community is blessed to have young folks so adept at self-organization. Young people supporting each other through safety planning, community care, and resistance is what it’s all about!
Like most rose gardens, we still have thorns. If you’ve been following along with us, you’ve heard about it all already. Last year, the NC General Assembly overrode the governor's veto of three pieces of anti-trans legislation in 2023. These wide-reaching, discriminatory, and transphobic policies are specifically targeted at the population of young people that we serve. This year, our school boards are forced to interpret and implement these policies. This hateful movement across the nation has had negative impacts on all of us. It also activates us to stand even more firmly in our values and continue the critical, life-saving work of creating affirming environments for Queer and Trans youth.
From transphobic policies to substation shootings causing blackouts for tens of thousands of people, the institutional and cultural challenges are very real here in North Carolina. The work we do is truly critical. Despite these challenges, we are continuing to grow and bloom. Looking forward into this year you can expect…
Weekly, in-person, youth programs! We have a new location and are excited to share physical space with our community more frequently.
A new office space! Our fully remote team is transitioning to a hybrid work model and settling into our new workspace in Montford.
We’re welcoming three new members to the team! Two youth fellows working on the programs team and a communications intern working with our development director.
Let’s talk about data. What did the numbers look like in 2023?
Program Participation
1,230 total visits from youth
$6,037 in Direct Youth Payment Program grants
Demographics
82% of YO youth identify as Trans, Non-Binary, or Gender Expansive
6% of YO youth identify self report they are questioning their gender
11% of YO youth identify as Cis-gender
82% of YO youth identify as White or Caucasian
8.2% of YO youth identify as Hispanic or Latinx
6.6% of YO youth identify as Indigenous
1.6% of YO youth identify as Black
21.1% of YO youth are between the ages of 11-14 years old
38.5% of YO youth are between the ages of 15-17 years old
40.4% of YO youth are between the ages of 18-24
Finance & Fundraising
In total, we reached 94% of our income goals in 2023
In total, we expended 98% of our planned budget in 2023
In 2023 Youth OUTright received 411 donations from community members, businesses, and organizations, a 48% increase from 2022
The average size of an individual donor’s gift is $65
As we navigate the beginning of 2024 we know we will face significant challenges this year. Local school boards are being forced to implement policies that will harm their students (shout out to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools for refusing to implement SB49), our communities continue to be targeted by the state, the US enters a presidential election, and global tensions escalate in the wake of genocidal and authoritarian military campaigns. Despite all this, we know the legacy of Trans and Queer power. We look to each other, we look to our community, we look to our allies to step up and into the fray.
Queerly forward, together towards Justice,
Adrian Parra
Executive Director
Youth OUTright WNC Inc