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Contact: Mount Rainier Media Line, (360) 569-6510
Contact: Jay Satz, Northwest Youth Corps, Senior Director for Partnership and Innovation, (206) 550-5977
What: Northwest Youth Corps LGBTQ Rainbow Conservation Crew completes service-work at Mount Rainier National Park during Pride Month and beyond.
When: The crew is in Mount Rainier National Park until July 11.
Background: Every year, during the month of June, the LGBTQ community celebrates across the globe as a way of recognizing the influence LGBTQ people have had around the world. This June, Mount Rainier National Park has partnered with Northwest Youth Corps to bring the LGBTQ Rainbow Conservation Crew, comprised of LGBTQ teenagers, to serve in the park for the 3rd consecutive year. Mount Rainier National Park strives to be a place where people from all backgrounds feel welcome and are represented. Hosting the LGBTQ Rainbow Crew exemplifies their commitment.
“The National Park Service has been charged with helping to preserve and tell all of America’s stories. This includes the ongoing struggle to recognize LGTBQ heritage as embodied in places like Stonewall National Monument,” said Chip Jenkins, Superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park. “We are proud to work with the Northwest Youth Corps LGBTQ Rainbow Conservation Crew to ensure all people feel welcome in their national park.”
Why: Unlike some facets of identity, such as perceived race or ability, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or “questioning” are often an invisible demographic. Northwest Youth Corps’ move to create a single-identity LGBTQ+ crew began when they recognized the need to be much more purposeful in supporting this community.
Where/How: During the summer of 2020, through in partnership with Mount Rainier National Park, Ebey’s Landing National Historical Preserve, and Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Northwest Youth Corps will field two sessions of the LGBTQ Rainbow Crew. Crew members will serve for three weeks at each NPS site, working on projects that make recreation more accessible and assist the park’s trails and habitat restoration teams. In addition to completing projects, crew members will participate in one hour of structured education each day and earn high school credit.
The Rainbow Crew offers more than a career-building experience, however. As Northwest Youth Corps says, “it is important to remember that equity means valuing different cultures on their own terms and not merely expecting people to assimilate.” The Rainbow Crew provides a space for young people to be themselves, share stories and discuss common challenges.
“When I joined the first Northwest Youth Corps LGBTQ crew at sixteen, I was forever changed by the sense of belonging and support that I felt, for the first time in my life, as a queer person, from queer people,” said a Leader-In-Training from session-two of the summer 2019 season. This same young person credits his Rainbow Crew experience for giving him the confidence and skills to be successful on a wilderness crew, and for his new-found desire to be a professional firefighter.
As the parent of one Rainbow Crew participant said, “Y’all are building more than trails and footbridges, y’all are building confidence and strength in our kids who are at highest risk.”
The Rainbow Crew is being funded through the generous support of the National Park Foundation with additional support from the Dawkins Charitable Trust.
Please note: Northwest Youth Corps has developed rigorous protocols for operating our conservation service crews in the COVID-19 environment. A link to those protocols can be found here: https://www.nwyouthcorps.org/m/covid19.
Photos and interviews available by request
About the Northwest Youth Corps
Northwest Youth Corps was created in 1984 to offer teenagers an education-based, work experience modeled after the historic Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's.
Our core purpose is to provide opportunities for youth and young adults to learn, grow, and experience success. Our programs focus on education, challenge, community, leadership and empowerment, giving youth critical life skills and confidence. Youth leave Northwest Youth Corps knowing that they can overcome obstacles, solve problems, make friends, and attain their objectives in life. Northwest Youth Corps serves over 1,000 youth annually in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and northern California. Learn more at https://www.nwyouthcorps.org
Last updated: July 8, 2020