Jun 08, 2007News: L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Celebrates Its First 'Graduation'
By vanrozenheim
Los Angeles, USA) - When Michael (last name withheld to protect his confidentiality), age 17, first came to the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Jeff Griffith Youth Center in September 2006, he was using drugs and living on the streets after having run away from a group foster home. Today, thanks to the Center’s landmark new General Education Diploma (GED) Preparation Program, he holds the equivalent of a high school diploma and is now training through the Los Angeles Jobs Corps for a career as an X-ray technician.
The Center’s GED Preparation Program, launched in August 2006, is the first GED program in the nation designed specifically to meet the unique needs of homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth—many of whom have fared poorly in typical classroom settings or feel oppressed in traditional educational environments.
“Instead, we offer at the Jeff Griffith Youth Center a learning environment that is structured to be much more comfortable and ‘home-like,’ where students can eat snacks and relax while they learn at their own pace,” says Simon Costello, manager of the youth center. “They also can work on their own or one-on-one with tutors, rather than participate in the sort of group classroom instruction that already failed them.”
Michael is the first graduate of the Center’s GED program, and was recently joined by fellow program graduate Rebecca, age 18, who is now studying video game development at DeVry University. More than a dozen other Youth Center Clients are now working toward taking the GED exam—some already having taken and passed one or more of the test’s five separate sections.
“The program, and its flexibility, has really helped to boost the self-esteem of the youths,” says Education Center coordinator Megan Cook. “Every time they attend the program it’s because they’ve made a conscious decision to do so, and ultimately they can look at their progress and their accomplishments and say, ‘I did this for myself and I can own this completely.’”
The design and structure of the Center’s GED Preparation Program is largely the result of more than 800 hours of work by Center volunteer Javier Davis, who began with the framework from a standard GED program and tailored each aspect to meet the unique needs of the Center’s youth clients.
And unlike other GED programs, the Center’s services do not end when the graduates pass their GED exams. A post-test career-development piece assists the new GED holders—and even other Youth Center clients who aren’t in the GED program—to assess and pursue employment opportunities or prospects for continuing education.
“We help them take the next steps after they earn their GEDs, from helping them apply for college scholarships to assisting with job searches, resume-writing, interviewing and other skills,” Davis says.
For Cook, Costello, Davis and all the other Center staff members and volunteers involved with the GED Preparation Program, one of the greatest rewards has been witnessing the renewed interest in continuing education shown by the program participants—many of whom previously had firmly rejected the notion of going back to school.
“We couldn’t be happier that we’ve been able to reintroduce education to a youth who may have been marginalized within the public school system,” Costello says. “It gives us such an indescribably satisfying feeling to hear the participants talk about their careers and even the possibility of attending college.”
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center provides a broad array of services for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, welcoming nearly a quarter-million client visits from ethnically diverse youth and adults each year. Through its Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic and on-site pharmacy, the Center offers free and low-cost health, mental health, HIV/AIDS medical care and HIV/STD testing and prevention. The Center also offers legal, social, cultural, and educational services, with unique programs for seniors, families and youth, including a 24-bed transitional living program for homeless youth. Information about the Gay & Lesbian Center is available on the Web at www.lagaycenter.org.
