Nominate the 2014 Youth Advocate of the Year

MAC is accepting applications for the 2014 Youth Advocate of the Year. The award will honor young people who deserve recognition for their advocacy. At our 45th Anniversary: Honoring Katherine Butler Jones on October 23, 2014, we will announce the recipients of the Sondra Peskoe Individual Award and the John Mudd Organizational Award.

Do you know a young person who deserves recognition for advocacy?

Start the application or nomination process:

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You can also download our Youth Advocate of the Year application/nomination form.

The deadline for applications is September 22, 2014.

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2013 Winners

Last year, we honored Zachary Kerr for his extraordinary work in advocating for LGBTQ rights for youth and Team Respect for inspiring advocacy for increased awareness and respect for children with disabilities.

Team Respect

A group of six 13-year-old students from the middle school – Christina Albano, Jacqueline Desautels, Maggie Weaver, Zachary Rothwell, Dominick Gravante, and Andrew Maglio – formed a team, Team Respect, to compete for the school’s Destination Imagination (DI) Project Outreach Challenge. The teens were inspired by one of its members having a baby sister diagnosed with Down syndrome. After learning more, the team decided to make raising awareness in their middle school about Down syndrome the topic of their DI Challenge project. They recruited knowledgeable parents and the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, as well as the principal and vice-principal, to assist them.

They conducted an initial survey among the students and found that some were confused or disrespectful. They planned and implemented a set of awareness-raising activities – including posters, bookmarks, a video, t-shirts and a Facebook page – that resulted in greater curiosity, eagerness to learn, and acceptance among their peers. This change in attitude of greater tolerance and respect even extended to children with any type of disability. The school became a more accepting place.

As for the group of six teens, through their own personal research, they have become more comfortable interacting with people who have Down syndrome. Their Team Respect made it to through the regional DI competition and to the state level, where they received much positive feedback. Though the competition is over, they are staying together, continuing to update the Facebook page and participating in the Buddy Walk this fall.

Zachery Kerr

Kerr, a transgender youth, was a member of the Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Youth where he heard testimony from other transgender youth throughout the Commonwealth. From their experiences and hi s own, he learned about the range of disparities and challenges faced by transgender youth, including higher rates of violence, homelessness, emotional stress, bullying, discrimination regarding participation in sports, and lack of access to restrooms and other facilities.

His advocacy began at the local level, at Methuen High School, where he led the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) to address cultural norms and institutional barriers. He worked with the GSA advisor to plan and present a professional development workshop for 125 school faculty and administrators. In coordination with statewide programs such as PFLAG, Zach became a regular speaker and trainer for schools and organizations throughout the state raising awareness about concerns such as preferred names and gender pronouns and access to locker rooms and bathrooms. As a result, school officials have become better prepared to support transgender students and their families, and the youth have a greater knowledge of their rights and to whom they can turn for assistance.

Zach then set his sights to advocate at the policy level, to institutionalize some of these changes. The law making discrimination against transgender students illegal had just been passed, but he was concerned that without strong regulations and guidance from the state, schools would find it difficult to implement the law. Zach met with and urged the governor and education commissioner to issue updated regulations at the same time the law went into effect, and he worked with the state education department (DESE) to ensure the regulations were useful and accessible for students, teachers and schools. He further worked with DESE to release just this past spring a Guidance for schools on supporting transgender and gender-nonconforming students, outlining policies and best practices for creating a supportive school climate. That Guidance is already being used by other agencies in this state and around the nation.

Kerr has just started at Wheelock College with a four year, $20,000 per year scholarship for his demonstrated commitment to community service, leadership and scholarship. He plans to become a social worker to help LGBT youth.