Giving LGBTQ students the resources to create safer schools
Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition is a nonprofit organization that began in 2008 to help community groups do youth organizing. The majority of the work MSSC does is made possible through volunteers, and they have always prioritized being an organization led by young people for young people. In the past, most of the work they have done has focused on community action protests, speaking out against cases like HB1523 or instances where teens were disallowed from attending prom with same-sex dates.
Jack Hoda and board co-chair Ericka Williams, along with the rest of the MSSC team, have been working hard to connect with LGBTQ teens throughout the state and be an advocate for youth at their schools, and they typically help LGBTQ students create support groups like Gay-Straight Alliances or Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs).
They will be using the LGBTQ Fund grant money for their Queer Youth Organizations Program, where they will hire and train LGBTQ teens throughout the state to push for policy and practice changes at their schools, creating safer schools for LGBTQ youth. This could be done by starting a GSA, if they don’t have one at their school, or formalizing a GSA if they do have one. There are also specific handbook changes that can be implemented, such as detailed bullying policies and bullying reporting procedures or having gender inclusive language.
The importance of youth leadership
“The whole mission of MSSC is that youth should be the voices leading the movement, leading the work. The goal of the Queer Youth Organizations Program is to not only support youth doing that, but to develop them and fund them, because they deserve pay for what they’re doing,” said Hoda.
MSSC is a statewide project that aims to connect students, teachers, and community members to one another throughout Mississippi, and the majority of their work happens at schools where GSAs already exist.
“I came out in high school, and it was a really traumatic time for me, and a really dangerous time for me. Having peers around me that had that kind of knowledge that we’re trying to teach youths through this program helped me start a GSA and create a space for me to be myself. It’s just so important to have that happening in every school that we can, because the students need the support and the space to be themselves and to lead. But the schools also need the students to step up and to be leading change, because that kind of change doesn’t really just happen unless students push for it,” said Hoda.
The leadership team of the program is called the Queer Youth Advisory Board, so the organization is actually governed by LGBTQ youth. No one older than 35 is on the board, so it helps them stay grounded in the contemporary moment and the ideology of youth. All of the work is informed by people actually living the experience.
“As much as it may not seem visible, there are tons of queer and trans youth in Mississippi. A lot of them are in rural schools, where they may have a graduating class of 50 people and they have absolutely no LGBTQ support, mentors or infrastructure in their community, let alone their school. That can be so detrimental to the kids that we have growing up in the state, and that’s what MSSC is working to change. It’s gonna be a slow, daunting effort, but every little bit counts. Every inch that we spread out throughout the state can make a huge difference in one kid’s life, and that one kid makes it all worth it,” said Hoda.
“For me, wellbeing looks like there not being a space in Mississippi where LGBTQ people don’t feel welcome and included, even in our most rural places or impoverished places, even in our wealthiest places. Especially in places like the state capital, where decisions are made and peoples’ lives are most impacted. I would love to see more LGBTQ people included in those decisions, and I think for MSSC, it looks like no child, no student, no teen coming through our school systems and feeling excluded or threatened or unsafe,” said Hoda.
To learn more about Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition and how to volunteer with the organization, visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.