It’s Pride Month in the United States, and to celebrate, we wanted to introduce you to one of our partners for ISA by WorldStrides Internships. ISA’s newest internship location is Denver, Colorado, and in the Mile High city, we partner with One Colorado, an organization that advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and their families. Interns have the opportunity to get hands-on with advocacy and human rights work in the queer community.
Executive Director of One Colorado, and host supervisor, Daniel Ramos tells us more in an interview with ISA Internships.
Tell us about One Colorado’s services and how ISA interns get involved!
One Colorado is the state’s leading advocacy organization for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families. Our mission is to secure protections and opportunities for LGBTQ Coloradans. Our organization works towards this mission through four primary programs:
1) Safe Schools & Youth to ensure that schools and communities are trained, educated and responsive to the academic and social-emotional needs of LGBTQ youth
2) LGBTQ Health to ensure that LGBTQ Coloradans have access to care that meets their needs
3) Transgender Equality to improve the quality of life for transgender Coloradans and their families
4) Civic Engagement & Advocacy to close the gap between legal and lived equality.
Interns get involved with a number of opportunities with One Colorado, including Event Management, Civic Engagement, and Advocacy. Our work is focused on building an active network of LGBTQ people and allies across the state. In 2020, we are focused on ensuring that our community is counted in the Census, and that LGBTQ people get out and vote.
Has your organization been affected by or been involved with the Black Lives Matter movement? If so, how?
As with many organizations, One Colorado has recommitted itself to address issues of systemic racism, including anti-Blackness. It’s not enough for us to talk about issues that impact people of color, but we must name anti-Blackness in our work to address racism. Specifically, One Colorado signed on to a letter of more than 700 LGBTQ organizations across the country naming the work we need to be anti-racist and combat white supremacy. One Colorado also signed on to a police accountability bill that was recently passed in the Colorado Legislature and submitted a letter in support of addressing policing in Denver Public Schools.
What do you see as the future for One Colorado?
The future of One Colorado is focused on closing the gap between legal and lived equality. Despite the progress we’ve made in Colorado — being named a high equality state by USA Today this year — we are still seeing outcomes get worse for LGBTQ Coloradans in areas of mental, behavior, physical, and oral health. We know that laws can only do so much so it’s important that we are focused on systems-level change to improve these outcomes.
In addition to working with organizations that advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, the ISA Internships team is committed to providing an inclusive, safe, and professional experience for our LGBTQ+ applicants. Have ideas for how ISA Internships can be more supportive to the LGBTQ+ community? Email us at internships@studiesabroad.com!
Interested in learning more about what it’s like to be LGBTQ+ abroad? Check out this article written by ISA participants and get resources here!
One thought