Programs

Safe Zone. Safe Zone, funded in part by the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, offers a daily after-school program and regular support and discussion groups. Safe Zone comprises trainings and workshops, a print library, Internet resources, social gatherings, monthly dances, career exploration, and referral to other services. The Safe Zone includes:

Art RAVE. (Revealing Artistic Vision in Everyone) Monthly artistic workshops offer youth opportunities for creative expression. Art RAVE receives funding from the Fulton County Arts Council and the Georgia Council for the Arts.
CITY Academy. An intensive week-long summer residency serving approximately 20 inner city youth supported by Fulton County FRESH. Throughout the school year, CITY Academy offers leadership development and youth empowerment trainings and workshops.
David Bohnett CyberCenter. An eight-station state-of-the art computer center and free Internet portal for youth provide by the David Bohnett Foundation.
Discussion groups. The YouthPride Center is home to Teen Group, Young Adult Group, Trans & Friends, BoyTalk & Women’s Group each week of the year. Trained adults facilitate open, respectful, and supportive discussions of life’s cares and joys.
Evolve! YouthPride’s newest initiative works to prevent suicide and depression among a highly at-risk population. It includes awareness activities and referrals to therapeutic consulting.

Evolve! Suicide prevention education, training, early intervetion and counseling services for LGBTQ youth. At YouthPride, we recognize that suicide is a deadly and real threat to gay teens. In partnership with a local mental health center Evolve! seeks to (1) creatively increase the awareness of mental health issues, depression, and suicide among our youth; (2) train peer educators, volunteers, and staff on suicide intervention; and (3) provide therapeutic services to youth in crisis.

Teens and young adults come to YouthPride to share their concerns, celebrate their achievements, and often explore their fears. This initiative allows YouthPride to meet the threat of suicide among the estimated 16,000 LGBTQ youth in the 13 county metropolitan area. As the only LGBTQ organization in Georgia directly serving youth, addressing suicide and mental health issues is both something that we cannot avoid and are well equipped to accomplish. But we need your continuing help.

YouthPride’s entire set of programs and overall approach helps to create a community mental health approach to suicide prevention.

Click Here for more information about Evolve!
Click Here for more information about suicide prevention from the CDC
Click Here for "The Warning Signs of Suicide"

Home@YouthPride. prevents homelessness by providing caring professionals, volunteers, and a youth center that offers a range of supportive services, educational activities, emergency assistance, a 24 hour help line, and access to specialized services for as many as 75 youth a day. YouthPride helps to ensure that no homeless youth will spend a night out on the streets or engaging in unsafe activities in exchange for a place to sleep. It accomplishes this work by intervening directly with youth, ages 1724, on preventing homelessness, reducing the risks of homelessness, and providing short-term emergency assistance.

Click Here for more information about Home@YouthPride

LGBTQ Youth Day at the Capitol. The third annual LGBTQ Youth Day at the Capitol is an educational program for state leaders and an experiential opportunity for youth to learn the legislative process.

MY LIFE. Mobilizing Youth to Learn, Inspire, Facilitate & Educate Peers for HIV/AIDS Prevention. Supported by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund, and Fulton County Department of Human Services, this multi-faceted, year-round HIV/AIDS prevention education program helps to promote health.

Pride Prom. Presented in cooperation with the Atlanta Pride Committee, Pride Prom is a youth-only, alcohol-free, safe dance celebration at Piedmont Park’s stately Magnolia Hall held on the Friday of Pride Week in Piedmont Park.

Project SOLVE. (Schools & other Organizations Lessening Violence for Every Youth) supports LGBTQ youth in the educational, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems by assisting institutions in these public sectors to (1) provide a safe environment for; (2) engage in culturally competent services to; and (3) enhance the life chances of, LGBTQ youth in their care.

Project EARLY. The Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative and YouthPride are proud to announce a joint program aimed at educating young lesbians about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, and the Human Papilloma virus (HPV). This new program, Project EARLY (Expanding & Accelerating Resources for Lesbian Youth Health), will target young lesbian and bisexual women who reside in metro Atlanta through street outreach, health education, and clinical visits. This program has been made possible by a $10,000 grant from The Atlanta Women’s Foundation.

Click Here to read the recent, joint press release about Project Early.