Join us for our regular monthly meeting welcoming the entire spectrum of LGBTQ+ community, friends, families, and allies for education and supportive community.
Our PFLAG general support meetings will be held both IN PERSON and VIA ZOOM.
Virtual meeting attendees still require RSVP. If you are new to Zoom, CLICK HERE to get set-up.
Please RSVP to rsvp@pflagmanhattanbeach.org
Meet Rainbow Labs + Learn how they are creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth
with Luis Vasquez (he/him) & Maria Garcia (she/they) of Rainbow Labs
Rainbow Labs is a nonprofit organization with a mission to embolden Queer and Gender Nonconforming Youth to discover, curate, and experiment with the elements of a fulfilled life through community building and the lived experiences of mentors. They are excited to be launching a new kind of youth programming for queer and gender non-conforming youth 12-18 BY queer and gender non-conforming youth where they will have access to different types of mentoring activities throughout the year. Youth development professionals and mentors will conduct these activities both virtually and in person.
About our Presenters:
Luis Vasquez (he/him), Co-Founder, Rainbow Labs, is passionate about serving inner-city marginalized youth. He believes through trusting relationships and critical support that complement their natural gifts and curiosities, youth can reach their greatest potential. Luis is honored to advance the impact and mission of Rainbow Labs through building a network of champions, committed to accelerating opportunities for its youth. Luis is a veteran non-profit administrator, with more than 16 years of experience in the greater Southern California region as an executive, project manager, administrator, business development, operations, communications specialist and service provider. At a very young age, Luis noticed firsthand how uneven the playing field was for kids that were different. For the past decade, he has worked in the public education and non-profit industry to change the narrative and disrupt the outcomes for youth. In his former roles Luis has led, one of the largest and most successful social service partnership programs in Los Angeles County dealing with youth development and trauma informed coaching. Serving more than 13,000 K-12 aged youth every year, the program provided a comprehensive array of educational and enrichment services in 28 different organizations across Southern California…. and yep, he’s from East Los Angeles and a 12 year NAVY veteran and proud of it! Luis, his partner Tavo, and their dog Gristle spend many hours hiking, going to sporting events and exploring all the great food the city has to offer. Maria Garcia (she/they), Program Manager at Rainbow Labs, is passionate about social justice and hopes to bring queer education to Latine(x) communities and create opportunities for healing for marginalized individuals. She believes in community-led activism and continues her work by educating those around her about the intersections of injustice. She has a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and a minor in LGBTQS+ studies from UCLA. At Rainbow Labs, Maria assists with creating and streamlining a series of after-school programming seeking to mentor and support underserved Queer & Gender non-conforming youth ages 13-18. She also provides culturally-competent resources to the community.
Visit Rainbow Labs Online: https://www.rainbowlabs.org/
A NOTE ABOUT VIRTUAL MEETINGS:
We will be utilizing Zoom features that provide the highest level of safety and confidentiality possible. Zoom is free to you and you need not have an account to join us. If you are new to Zoom, you can follow the links [here] for brief tutorials on all you need to know to sign on to a Zoom meeting with us. We ask that each of you that would like to participate in the on-line support, contact us in advance by email at rsvp@pflagmanhattanbeach.org to RSVP for the meeting. We will cut off RSVPs at 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting. All participants will receive a follow-up email with the link to the Zoom call and a password. For confidentiality’s sake, please do not forward these to another participant — they are welcome to contact us directly to receive the link.
We ask that youth who may want to join for our support groups to please be joined by a parent. Some heavy emotions can emerge in the course of our sessions and having a parent on-hand helps to ensure that the needs of any youth on the call are met.
There are some benefits to utilizing new tools like Zoom. We recognize that our typical evening support group meetings are not feasible for everyone due to work, family or other demands. If there is a need, we would like to offer an additional support group Zoom conference call sometime during the daytime hours. If you are interested in a daytime support group, email us at info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org and let us know what times might be more workable for you.
If you need more personalized assistance and support, we remain here for you. Email us confidentially and we will work with you to identify the best member of our team to assist with your individual needs.