Amor Para Todos (APT) Give Out Day

Amor Para Todos (APT) is a community-led group. Our mission is to innovate schools and communities to be more gender & LGBTQIA+ inclusive. Our vision is that all students, regardless of gender & sexual orientation, feel safe & comfortable at school & in their communities to be their true authentic selves & express themselves freely & that they are supported and treated with respect by peers, administrators, teachers, staff, & community members.

When students can be their authentic selves in a safe & respectful environment, the extremely high suicide statistics within the LGBTQIA+ community can begin to decline. We are working to combat these suicide statistics.

Did you know that :

—About 30% of transgender female teens have attempted suicide.

—41.8% of non-binary youth have attempted suicide.

—More than half of transgender males have attempted suicide.

—Lesbian, gay, & bisexual youth are 2 to 3 times more likely to be bullied as non-LGBTQ peers & are more likely to miss school—impacting graduation rates.

—In 2021, at least 57 transgender & non-binary people were killed in the U.S. - the majority were black women.

Chair & founder of APT, Renee Ho, is a mother of a transgender child. She, like many other parents of trans children, cannot sit back & let those statistics come to fruition with her child & other LGBTQIA+ youth. We humbly ask for your help.

APT has been working since 2018 to find a solution to help fight this suicide epidemic & now have part of the answer: make our schools & communities more gender & LGBTQIA+ inclusive, starting with preschools & elementary schools.

This past year, we:

• Raised almost $20,000 within 3 months and funded 3 Welcoming School trainings for OAUSD. The 3-part training was mandatory for all district teachers and principals and it was optional for counselors. The trainings were on school practices with an intersectional lens and preventing bias-based bullying. Due to COVID-19, the third training on embracing all families got postponed for the next 2020-2021 school year.
• Advocated to have the Pride flag raised for the Old Adobe School District during Pride month last year and presently.
• Hosted a Jazz & Friends National Day of School and Community Reading event at the Petaluma Library.
• Spoke on a panel at the local library about the transgender experience.
• Were able to get ‘welcoming and affirming’ signage up in all OAUSD schools and the majority of the classrooms that affirm that all genders and sexual orientations are welcome and safe. We also worked to get these up in the front of Meadow school.
• Got it approved to have gender-neutral signage on all of the single-stall bathrooms throughout the OAUSD.
• Created an LGBTQIA+ Law reference sheet that has helped us get district administration to ensure they support LGBTQIA+ youth, and advocated for the district administration to share the LGBTQIA+ laws and policy with all district staff, so they can know how they can support their LGBTQIA+ students.
• Created APT staff liaisons in every school in the OAUSD.
• Collaborated with other local LGBTQIA+ orgs and other equity and diversity orgs as well.
• Advocated to have our district look into adopting a gender-inclusive Family Life/Sex Ed curriculum.
• Tabled at the Progressive Festival this year in Petaluma.
  
• Made connections with Mentor Me in Petaluma in hopes to be able to help support their LGBTQIA+ mentees.
• Created a closed APT FB group where we share updates and LGBTQIA+ news.
• Have contacts with psychologists and doctors who specialize in the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Made good connections and have corresponded with Petaluma City Council members, including our Mayor, in regards to asking for their support when there has been resistance to LGBTQIA+ events/programs/education in our community.

This year, with your help, we want to:

• Extend our contract with Welcoming Schools to complete the last 4 modules: creating LGBTQ inclusive schools, creating gender-inclusive schools, Welcoming Schools law and policy review, and supporting transgender and nonbinary students.
• Advocate for a gender-inclusive family life sex-ed curriculum.
• Support libraries and classrooms have more gender-inclusive books.
• Have an APT student group in our local elementary schools.
• Educate schools and teachers on the LGBTQIA+ federal and state laws and legislations.
• Put on community events to help make our community more gender-inclusive.

APT hopes to lead this important movement to educate, protect, and support the LGBTQIA+ student youth population—and hopes to influence other schools within our community, nation, and beyond by serving as a model.

By donating via our Give Out Day link you will directly be a part of saving lives.

With gratitude, we thank you for your consideration:)

Twitter: @AmorParaTodosLV

FB page: @amorparatodosapt

Instagram: amorparatodosapt

Amor para todos website