Proud Spaces: Promising Practice in LGBTQI+ Youth Work
Date: Thursday September 28th 2023
Location: Youth Work Ireland National Office
Time: 11am – 3pm
About this Event
Proud Spaces is a European wide project funded by Erasmus+ that is seeking to identify promising practices in LGBTI+ youth work. Promising practices are methods that have been shown to work effectively and produce successful outcomes. Promising practices are supported by subjective data and objective data.
Speakers:
- Bella FitzPatrick – Executive Director – IGLYO
- Dominik Kuk – Growspace
- Inputs from young people and youth workers
This event will explore the extensive practice experience that exists in supporting LGBTQI+ young people in youth work settings. Youth work specific supports for young LGBTQI+ people have existed in Ireland for over 20 years and range in service and policy objectives, depending on the needs and all delivered by professional youth workers.
Youth work provides for the personal development and the empowerment of young people. It challenges social exclusion with and for all young people. At the same time, in some jurisdictions in Europe the use of public funds to support the social inclusion of young LGBTI+ people is a contested policy objective.
As practitioners we are now able to describe, share and promote an extensive body of effective, evidence informed youth work practice with young LGBTI+ people. At the same time we have the opportunity to be allies in defending the very existence of such practice in some European countries.
This event will seek to:
- Engage the participation of practitioners to further our understanding of promising practices in LGBTQI+ youth work;
- Consolidate our understanding of promising practices as they relate to LGBTQI+ youth work;
- Share evidence of our practices that achieve impact and outcomes for young LGBTQI+ people;
- Disseminate the findings and evidence from the Proud Spaces project, thus far;
- Consider and understand the steps we can take as allies in promoting youth work practices across Europe as a way of supporting and advocating with and for the LGBTQI+ community.
Subjective data: Proud Spaces collected the views and practice experience of 30 youth work organisations and young people involved in LGBTQI+ Youth work in an evidence review
Objective data: Proud Spaces engaged in LGBTQI+ youth work subject matter experts from around Europe to test and elaborate on the practice experience collected in the evidence review.
The result is a tool that provides/describes a model of practice in the form of an outcomes tool ( needs a better name) consisting of:
- Logic Model describing
- Strengths, Needs and Aspirations of young LGBTQI+ people
- Activities and strategies to support these needs
- Knowledge, Skill and Attitudinal outcomes of identified practice.
- Elaborated description of practices
- Discussion of youth work theory and principles
- Questions to assist in testing the effectiveness of practice
Comprehensively, these resources provide an innovative tool to support increased quality of practice and achievement of outcomes for LGBTQI+ young people through youth work.
