Where We’ve Been

In August 2008, two staff were hired to SPARK Reproductive Justice Now with the goal to design and implement a youth and reproductive justice (YRJ) program.  Under the banner of “Make What We Need”, the YRJ Program sought to build the leadership and power of lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and questining (LGBTQ) youth of color and our allies in Atlanta through relationship building, political education, resource development, art and media work, and community based research.

In our first operational year, the YRJ program has been working to build consciousness and resources that begin to answer the question “What does comprehensive sexuality education look like with Southern LGBTQ youth of color at the center?” By focusing on comprehensive sexuality education through a reproductive justice lens, the YRJ Program has been able to make reproductive justice concrete to folks, respond to and address the intermediate needs of SPARK’s constituency, while building local LGBTQ leaders capable of creating long-term systemic change.

Program Accomplishments

The YRJ Program was a grantee for the Advocates for Youth Anti-Homophobia and Transphobia seed grant in 2009.  In addition to being awarded the seed grant, staff were slected to participate in SexEd!, a national cohort coordianted by Expanding the Movement for Empowerment and Reproductive Justice (EMERJ).  The funds received from Advocates for Youth and SexEd! allowed the YRJ Program to:

• Outreach to over 100 un-duplicated LGBTQ young people.
• Hire and train five local queer youth of color (ages 17 – 24) in a 10-week summer program focusing on facilitation, communication, community based research, program outreach, and political education.
• Distribute and analyze over 110 community based, self-created Let’s Talk About Sex surveys.
• Conduct three community conversations/focus groups on sex, sexuality, and comprehensive sexuality education, two of which were facilitated by Youth Facilitation Crew members with over 75 total attendees.
• Create a resource and art zine titled Fire: Sparking the Flames in Each Other, an art and resource zine by and for Southern LGBTQ youth and our allies, which captures the hopes, dreams, needs, desires, and available resources for LGBTQ youth of color (and the people that support them) in Georgia.
• Outrach to and connect with local LGBTQ service providers as well as regional and national reproductive justice organizations.

Where We’re Going

As year one concludes, the program now finds itself with many lessons learned and much experience under its belt. As we have entered a new year, many shifts have already happened, including:

• Staff Changes: The program staff structure has changed from a two person co-director model to a single program director model.
• Name Change: Formerly known as the Youth & Reproductive  Justice Program, the staff and former Youth Facilitation Crew members from 2009 renamed the program FYRE, Fierce Youth Reclaiming & Empowering.
• Website: The program is currently contracting with a former Youth Facilitation Crew member to build an interactive website full of information, resources, organizing tools, art, and inspiration.

Over this coming year, the program will focus a great deal on building a strong program infrastructure and materials to support our program mission and goals.  Additionally, FYRE will continue working on strengthening its relationships and presence within Atlanta, and Georgia as a whole.  In the spirit of encouraging young people and communities to Make What You Need, we are looking forward to state-wide distribution of the long awaited zine, FIRE: Sparking the Flames in Each Other, as well as hosting the FIRE launch party to promote the zine, announce the new website and program name, and honor the community that helped the zine come to fruition.

Thanks to Advocates for Youth, we received funding to design and implement the collaborative Youth Media Camp and Project in 2010.  The Youth Media Camp will be a collaborative effort between FYRE and partner organizations to design and implement a Youth Media Camp for LGBTQ youth of color and allies.  While attending the camp, young people will gain hands on experience creating short films in pairs through a reproductive justice lens.  Graduates from the Youth Media Camp will move on to weekly meetings as a Youth Media Crew member, where they will work for 8 to 10 weeks as a group to form one film.  Upon completion of the group film, the youth participants will share their work with community members through film screenings and director panel presentations.

Please feel free to be in touch with FYRE staff with any questions or comments as well as to find out how to support our work and program.