04/20/2026
Meet the Team! This month, we’re celebrating The Diversity Center of Santa Cruz 🌈
We’re thrilled to spotlight their incredible impact in building safe, connected, and affirming spaces for elementary and secondary LGBTQ+ youth across our region.
💚 How they share their hearts:
〰️ Community Building & Connection: Creating vibrant events that bring together LGBTQ+ youth and GSA advisors—supporting the Rainbow Connections mission of uniting students from Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties to build belonging and peer support.
🌟 Youth Empowerment Council Co‑Hosts: Co‑leading the Rainbow Connections Youth Empowerment Council, a vital part of our project’s governance structure. Through this council, young people build leadership skills, shape decision‑making, and have their voices meaningfully uplifted throughout the project.
🏳️🌈 SEL Lessons for Knowledge Development Sites: Delivering Social Emotional Learning (SEL) sessions to our Rainbow Connections Knowledge Development Sites that strengthen student self-awareness, relationship skills, self‑management, social awareness and responsible decision making.
📚 Affirming Trainings: Providing LGBTQ+‑inclusive trainings for school staff, parents, caregivers, and community agencies—working to ensure every environment youth enter is affirming, supportive, and safe.
📣 Community Outreach & School Collaboration: Engaging directly with schools and local organizations—alongside other Rainbow Connections partners—to expand access to resources, strengthen affirming networks of care, cultivate environments of support for LGBTQ+ youth across home, school, and community.
🙏 We’re deeply grateful for The Diversity Center's partnership, passion, and unwavering commitment to uplifting young people and strengthening the systems that care for them. Here’s to the incredible collaborators driving this movement forward!
