Dear PFLAG Supporter,

Having a scholarship within your PFLAG chapter is a great opportunity to build relationships with local schools, families, and other organizations. They can also be powerful for attracting donors and providing a direct tangible impact to LGBTQ+ youth in your area. 

If your chapter is considering a scholarship program, it’s a great time of year to start that work and there’s no better way than hearing from another chapter leader about their chapter’s success. Since its inception in 2003, PFLAG Cape Cod's Scholarship program has awarded over $85,000 to pro-equality high school seniors. Recently, they've increased support to offer four $2,500 scholarships in 2023! Here are some key impressions and takeaways from PFLAG Cape Cod’s chapter leadership:

• Member Engagement: Seeing young people who’ve been advocates for equality is inspiring, and some people are very committed to helping those students succeed. It only takes a few members to really catapult a scholarship program from modest to impressive, and can ensure the confidence of future donors and members.
• Community Visibility & Recognition: From the local high schools and their guidance departments that promote the scholarships, the community awards ceremonies that highlight them and the publicity in the local press and media, to mentioning our scholarship when making a presentation about our chapter, having a scholarship program gives a chapter one more talking (and bragging) point.
• Community Engagement: All the students who apply, but especially for those selected to receive a scholarship, their parents and families learn about the organization. As a result, some of those families are motivated to become members
• Opportunities to Grow: New trade school scholarship offerings allow students in the local technical schools to apply to receive financial assistance to help them defray the cost of tools, equipment, uniforms, certifications/licenses, or other trade-related expenses, rather than college expenses. This focus could easily be tailored to other relevant communities in your chapter’s area! 
• Predictable & Timely: The scholarship program is a seven-month commitment for the chapter, and provides chapter members and supporters with consistent and inspirational goals throughout the year. 

Looking for more inspiration or guidance on how to get started? Consider checking out this PFLAG Academy Online session Creating a Scholarship Program: A How-To Guide for PFLAG Chapters. (Log into the Member Portal to view.)

If your chapter already has a scholarship, we’d love to feature it on PFLAG National’s Chapter Scholarship page. Promoting your scholarship program gets the word out for students and their family members. Reply back to me here and let us know a bit about your program, requirements, due dates, and where folks can find out more. We’ll get that information added to the website!

Stay Safe!

The recent tragedy in Oklahoma that took the life of a young transgender and indigenous student, Nex Benedict, shows us that rather than making schools safe, laws that restrict transgender students’ freedom to be themselves—combined with dehumanizing language—can have deadly consequences. For chapter leaders, this tragic event has brought up feelings of fear, heartbreak and rage and a drive to make a greater impact in their own local communities. 

If a family reaches out to your chapter for help because their LGBTQ+ child is being bullied by anyone in school:

1. Always start with safety planning!
   The first step in any response is making sure you and the people seeking support are safe. Refer back to your chapter’s safety plan for how to respond in a crisis situation or plan to attend the upcoming PFLAG Academy Online session on Tuesday, March 26 at 8:30 PM Eastern about safety planning. Consider starting by sharing these crisis resources with concerned parents. When you’re ready for peer support, find out where the person in crisis is reaching out from, so you can follow up with more local resources. You can also share PFLAG National resources, which highlight both National and statewide support. Lastly, there are national, state, and local virtual groups for queer youth too, like Q Chat Space, that are great to share. 
2. Talk about it.
   Having conversations about difficult topics is challenging and can be especially difficult for families when tragedies occur. Experts in this area encourage folks to take a thoughtful, direct approach in holding space to discuss difficult topics as one of the key factors impacting resilience and positive outcomes.
3. Look into anti-harassment and nondiscrimination ordinances and laws in your area.
   In many areas, there are resources to help people who are facing harassment or discrimination. For the person seeking support, this may look like speaking with school or local leadership, learning more about their rights, or filing a complaint. Consider how your chapter can help support a family through this process. This may look like holding space for them to share and process at your support meetings, or in a one-on-one setting. It may look like showing up to support them at a local school board meeting. Be sure to ask what support your chapter can offer, and let the person seeking support lead the way.
4. Provide Resources and Look for Natural Advocacy Opportunities. 
   Some regions host programs that provide direct support for concerned family members, like the Campaign for Southern Equality’s Supportive Schools Program; or this anti-bullying resource from Here for Texas, which has state-specific resources but guidance that applies to any state. Your chapter can also provide support by organizing to attend local school board meetings, or working with other local administrators.

Regional Roundup

PFLAG Sussex County, NJ started in February 2023; they are focusing their reach very locally to their rural community. They hold support meetings, and use radio, newspaper, and social media to advertise chapter meetings and events to reach the widest audience possible. While they've had great turn out for meetings and special guest speakers, they saw a need to be more visible in the community, while highlighting affirming and safe spaces locally as their county lacked many opportunities for LGBTQ+ folks to gather. These community events are a great resource for community members to gather and socialize, especially with the current climate and uptick in negative attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community. 

Since they started social activities, the chapter has also enjoyed a small uptick in membership and new attendees at meetings, as well as more community engagement. Hosting additional community social events has been a great way to let people know that PFLAG is present locally.

The chapter developed an ‘Activities Committee’ that began planning various events in the local area. Committee members started by brainstorming events they felt would appeal to a variety of people. Then they got right to work, visiting local businesses, introducing themselves, and explaining their goals. This was helpful for identifying safe and welcoming spaces to host events and for building relationships with businesses that might elect to support the chapter year round.

Since the social events are a new offering, growth has been slow. The first few events had sparse turnout and felt discouraging for the team. However, they've remained consistent with monthly activity offerings and have seen a greater turnout at events. Last month they hosted a Board Game meetup at a local café and had 16 people attend, and this month they hosted 10 people at a Painting Night. Looking ahead to March, the chapter will host a free community Movie Night with a hot cocoa bar and free popcorn at the local library!

As you’re thinking about your own community and how you can engage in friendraising and relationship building, I’d love to hear your tips, tricks, challenges, and successes! Please reach out so we can chat about it.

Stay safe,

Shaun Connors (he/they)

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