Contra Costa LGBTQ Youth Advocacy Collaborative: Helping families & communities accept & support our LGBTQ children.
Each year in Contra Costa County, it is estimated that an average of 5 adolescents die by suicide. Untold others attempt to take their own lives, motivated by hopelessness, depression and a belief that they have no other options. Media coverage has highlighted the high risk of suicide and victimization that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth experience.
Moved by the high levels of risk and by groundbreaking research on the impact of family acceptance and rejection on the health of LGBT youth conducted by the Family Acceptance Project at SF State University, the Rainbow Community Center and the Contra Costa County Division of Mental Health launched the Contra Costa LGBTQ Youth Advocacy Collaborative to increase support and decrease risk for LGBTQ youth.
The Collaborative is a joint community effort to reach and engage families, peers, schools, faith groups and other community members to raise awareness of the harmful effects of rejection on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning youth.
Our primary goal is to improve the health of LGBTQ youth by reducing rejecting behaviors and increasing accepting behaviors in Contra Costa social and service networks.
Please feel fee to download a PDF copy of our LGBT Youth Advocacy Collaborative materials. Also for more information on the Rainbow Community Center, you can order brochures for free here.
Collaborative Partners
Rainbow Community Center
Lead Agency
Ben-David Barr
Executive Director
Jerry Peterson
Collaboration Facilitator
jerry@rainbowcc.org
Elaine Prendergast
Executive Director
elaine@chd-prevention.org
Joel Baum
Director, Education & Training
jbaum@genderspectrum.org
Jenn Rader
Executive Director
jenn@jmhop.org
Kimberly Aceves
Co-Executive Director
kimberly@rysecenter.org
Kanwarpal Dhaliwal
Co-Executive Director
kanwarpal@rysecenter.org
For more information on support services for LGBTQ youth in Contra Costa County, call the Rainbow Community Center Support Line at
925-692-2056
