Out Youth selected as a 2016-17 Austin Gives Miles Official Charity

Out Youth is excited to announce that we have been selected as a 2016-17 Austin Gives Miles Official Charity. 

Austin Gives Miles is the Official Charity Program for the Austin Marathon® presented by NXP. 

Out Youth will raise awareness of our life-changing and life-saving work as well as recruit runners to fundraise on our behalf while they train for the Austin Marathon, set to take place on Feb. 19, 2017. 

Out Youth was one of 26 nonprofits selected out of numerous applications. 

Runners interested in supporting Out Youth’s mission while they train can select Out Youth during their registration process. The runner will be contacted by Kathryn Gonzales, Operations & Programs Director at Out Youth with a welcome email, including more about Out Youth, how Out Youth will support them during their training, and how they can create their Crowdrise fundraising page to begin fundraising.

“Out Youth is ecstatic to be a part of Austin Gives Miles and the 2017 Austin Marathon,” said Aubrey Wilkerson, Executive of Out Youth. “Our goal is to raise $10,000 and continue to raise awareness about Out Youth's mission throughout the running community.”

Entering its fourth year, Austin Give Miles’ fundraising goal for 2017 is $500,000. This year, the Official Charity Program is partnering with CrowdRise as it’s online fundraising platform. CrowdRise is the world’s largest and fastest growing online platform dedicated exclusively to charitable fundraising. 

"We’re glad to have Out Youth involved with Austin Gives Miles ,” said Carly Samuelson, Austin Gives Miles Charity Manager. “They do great work in the Central Texas community and we look forward to them reaching their fundraising goal, helping us reach ours, and raising more awareness about their cause.” 

About the Austin Marathon®: The Austin Marathon® will celebrate its 26th year running in Austin on Feb. 19, 2017. Austin’s flagship running event annually attracts runners from all 50 states and 20+ countries around the world. With start and finish locations just a few blocks apart, and within walking distance of many downtown hotels and restaurants, the Austin Marathon is the perfect running weekend destination. Participants can register on the website and choose to run for their preferred nonprofit.

About NXP Semiconductors: NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) enables secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives easier, better, and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security and privacy, and smart connected solutions markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined experience and expertise, the company has 45,000 employees in more than 35 countries and posted revenue of $6.1 billion in 2015. Find out more at www.nxp.com.

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2016

Kathryn Gonzales, our Operations and Programs Director delivered a powerfully emotional speech at tonight's Transgender Day of Remembrance.

A full transcript of her speech is available below.

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Hello, my name is Kathryn Gonzales and I am the Operations & Programs Director at Out Youth.
On behalf of the youth, board of directors, and staff of Out Youth, I want to express how humbled and honored we are to support this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Out Youth was founded in 1990 and has served youth of all sexual orientations and gender identities across Central Texas for 26 years. Out Youth is best known for our free individual and family counseling as well as our free and confidential HIV & STI testing, but what we do best is offer youth a place that they can feel at home, a place of warmth and peace. And, by extension, our youth become part of a family that loves, acknowledges, and accepts them for exactly who they are.

As this night approached again this year, I was reminded yet again of my desperate wish, a hope for a day when there are no names on the list.

Yet each year I arrive and sit here, awash in names and grief.

Certainly, I grieve for the loss of those we honor tonight, taken from us by horrific acts of violence.

But I also find myself grieving for the want of memory.

I grieve because I cannot remember them, for all I have been left with are their names and the reverberating silence of their absence.

I grieve because I will never delight in knowing them, at least in this lifetime. I will never know their kindness, their compassion, the unique and captivating beauty of their souls.

And while I may never meet them, I am certain of my love for them. Each and every one. All of those we have lost in years past, and those we seem all but certain lose in the years to come.

So let this be my vow, that my grief will stand as a testament to their lives, a renewed commitment to end this violence, for as long as I am here I will love them and work in honor of their memory in hopes for a day without names.

From the 2016 Glitz Gala Chair

Four years ago, I volunteered to assist with Out Youth’s fall event Glitz. A dear friend had introduced me to the organization and after meeting with staff members Aubrey Wilkerson and Kathryn Gonzales, I quickly saw the dedication and love that surround Out Youth’s mission; to promote the well-being of sexual and gender minority youth so they can safely explore and affirm their identities. I was “in” and eager to lend a hand.

From that moment forward, volunteering with Out Youth has been nothing short of an amazing experience. I have watched an organization grow to serve more and more youth, and I have met incredible community members who, like me, understand the importance of and need for Out Youth. In 2015, I joined the Board of Directors and it has been a privilege collaborating with this group as we aim to empower and protect our youth. 

Now, four years later, volunteered for numerous Out Youth events, I am chairing Glitz 2016.  I am fortunate to have assembled a fabulous committee who are going to make this year’s Glitz the most talked about event of the fall. We promise awesome auction items and delicious food and drink. This committee is making me look good.

I encourage you to attend Glitz, to join me in support of a house that helps so many. Every donation, every dollar, positively impacts the organization and youth we serve. It takes many dedicated friends and businesses for Out Youth to continue its mission. So please join me on Saturday, October 22 and enjoy a fabulous night out while enriching the life of another.