Who we are, why we’re here, and who we serve.
Mission
Gracie’s House helps organizations create, maintain, and protect safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas and offers resources to improve the quality of life for LGBTQ+ youth and their families.
Vision
A world that provides for the safety of LGTBTQ+ youth and adults and supports their free expression.
The Mission of Gracie’s House
At Gracie's House, we believe that every young person deserves a safe space where they can be their authentic self without fear of judgment or discrimination. That's why we're committed to creating environments where LGBTQ+ youth can express themselves freely and build meaningful connections with peers and mentors.
The 3 Goals of Gracie’s House:
CAMPS: Create an environment of safety and connection for LGBTQ+ youth and their families through PRIDE Camp, a sleepaway summer camp, and FOUND family weekend camps at an award-winning camp location in Pennsylvania.
ARTS: Encourage the expression of LGBTQ+ youth and provide the means for other organizations to do the same by supporting arts and music-focused workshops and events.
GRANTS: Expand and maintain safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas through grants to businesses and non-profit organizations.
What is a Safe Space?
A safe space is a supportive and affirming environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students. While we can never ensure that any space is going to be “safe” and affirming one hundred percent of the time, a safe space is a place, group, or community that is intenionally working to affirm LGBTQ people.
Our friends at GLSEN have created an educational resource called the Safe Space Kit, which is linked right over there. →
Why it Matters
Young LGBTQ+ people endure bullying, including individual, societal, and governmental, at increased rates compared to their cis/straight peers. In urban or more accepting environments, there is more support at hand. By and large, rural areas have often left LGBTQ+ youth and their families isolated and without resources. As these areas continue to grow LGBTQ+ organizations, we would like to help them maintain safe community spaces for their youth. We provide a partnership with peer educators for parents on their child’s gender or sexuality journey in order to expand the idea of safe spaces into homes all over the country. Gracie’s House was named for this reason. Our home has always been a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth and our wish is that in time, every home follows suit.
