Queer & Trans Youth Council
About
The Queer & Trans Youth Council of Santa Cruz County (QTYC) provides local LGBTQIA+ youth with leadership skills and an opportunity to serve the local LGBTQIA+ community. Council members work together to identify needs, plan, and implement projects to directly impact their community.
The QTYC is an advisory chamber to the adult-led Santa Cruz County Queer Youth Task Force, and a part of the Santa Cruz County Youth-Led Leadership Alliance, which also includes the Countywide Black Student Union, the Youth Artists Taking Action group, and the Youth for Environmental Action group. You can follow the Youth-Led Leadership Alliance on Instagram at @sccstudentleadership. If you would like to volunteer with the Queer Youth Taskforce or financially support their projects (like the QTYC), email them at info@QYTF.org or call them at (831)427-4004.
Application
If you are a Santa Cruz County high school student interested in applying to next school year's Queer & Trans Youth Council, check the Queer Youth Task Force site for the application .
Applications are due Friday, September 2nd at 11:59pm
Interviews take place September 5th via Zoom
Meetings
The first meeting will take place Monday , September 12th via Zoom from 4:15 to 5:15pm
Regular meetings will take place Monday's via Zoom 4:15 to 5:15pm
Projects
2022 - All-Gender High School Bathrooms Student Survey
The mission of the 2022 Queer & Trans Youth Council was to support public high school students in Santa Cruz County in having reliable and safe access to all-gender bathrooms at school. To do this, they created and distributed a survey to collect information from Santa Cruz County high school students on the current state of school all-gender bathrooms. Their survey received over 800 responses from high school students across the county. They organized and processed the data to compile the issues that needed to be addressed in order to contact school administrators and offer direct assistance and funding.
2021 - Resources Website for Closeted LGBTQIA+ Youth
The 2021 Queer & Trans Youth Council created the Cryptids in the Closet website to provide closeted LGBTQIA+ youth with informational resources. They chose a URL that wouldn’t alert guardians to the LGBTQIA+ content of the website (CryptidsInTheCloset.com) and the cover page is about cryptids. As part of the design, there is a built in Safety Exit which can be used as a discrete way to leave the LGBTQIA+ site quickly and go back to the cryptid page. There is also an art gallery where they continue to accept art submissions, and there is a gallery of coming out stories that you can also contribute to. Their intent with building this website was to provide a safe place for closeted youth.
2020 - LGBTQIA+ Students' Rights Training for School Staff
The 2020 Queer & Trans Youth Council created and presented a training for school staff in Santa Cruz County about LGBTQIA+ students' rights and how to support LGBTQIA+ them, and when shelter-in-place went into effect, they converted the training to a virtual platform to ensure educators still had access to the information.