Dear Friends,
Acceptance, safety, and support are basic needs all young people deserve. It’s one of the reasons Peer Health Exchange New York was honored to take part in our city’s Pride March for the first time last month.
Pride Month may be behind us now, but at Peer Health Exchange we celebrate, show up for and support LGBTQ+ youth year round. As a nation, we’ve come a long way since revolutionary activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera paved the way for human rights in the Stonewall uprising—but systemic barriers still prevent too many LGBTQ+ young people from leading long and healthy lives.
One of those barriers is access to inclusive and affirming health information and resources. In New York City, we’ve grown to provide our trauma-informed, skills-based health curriculum to more than 6,000 young people annually. Our work is far from done.
As more young people are finding the courage to embrace their true, authentic selves—9 out of 10 LGBTQ+ youth report being ‘out’ to their close friends, and a new study shows more young people are feeling safer to identify as transgender or gender nonconforming—we can each play a role in affirming young folks while building accepting spaces for them in schools.
That’s one of the many reasons Peer Health Exchange NYC works alongside college volunteers to ensure our health workshops are inclusive of all gender identities and sexual orientations, medically accurate, and age appropriate. Please join us to make sure that your community, your schools, and your family show up for and support LGBTQ+ youth.
In Solidarity,
Rachael Peters
NYC Executive Director
Dear Friends,
Watching the news these days, I often feel paralyzed. There are times I’m unsure of what to say, or if it’s my place to say anything at all. But then I remember that the work we do at Peer Health Exchange—showing up for young people— compels me to speak out and act.
When I first learned about the thousands of children currently being detained at the U.S.-Mexico border, I thought about my own small sons and all that it takes for children to develop. Working in health education, I know that trauma and toxic stress in young children can affect healthy brain development and have lasting effects long into adulthood.
There are many young people already in this country that live daily with the fear of separation and deportation. The future of these children— at the border and in our communities—will impact us all, and I urge you to consider how these violent policies are creating a public and mental health crisis that will affect all of us for generations to come.
Peer Health Exchange believes that every young person deserves to live a long, healthy life, and we urge you to join us in showing up for them.
With gratitude,
Louise Langheier
Co-Founder and CEO
- Peer Health Exchange celebrates Pride Month
- Peer Health Exchange raises $15.6M Impact Capital Campaign
- Anniversary Celebration honors young people
- Three takeaways from “Health Equity: Equipping Health Educators to Take Action”
- Finding the right therapist
- Co-Founder and CEO Louise Langheier was interviewed on The Business of Giving with Denver Frederick.
- Peer Health Exchange Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Adriana Díaz recently joined Taylor Nolan and Kitt Bender on the podcast Lets Talk About It.
- Executive Director Danya Rosen was selected among 40 civic-minded leaders for Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC)’s 2019 class of fellows.
- Volunteer Meena Natarajan from The City College of New York discussed her experiences as a health educator in this article by The Campus.
- California State University at Northridge Volunteer Maria Ariana Conechado consulted on set with producers of AwesomenessTV during the filming of this pilot segment of ‘Sex Ed on the Streets’ on The Gabbie Show.
- New York Executive Director Rachael Peters was featured in the article The talk: how New York is handling sex ed by Fernanda Nunes of City and State Magazine.
- Volunteer Ruby Phillips from Northwestern University wrote an op-ed about the effects of binge drinking for The Daily Northwestern.
- Peer Health Exchange was mentioned in this New York Daily News article about mentoring at Hunter College—a longtime partner of Peer Health Exchange New York.
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