Wow!

Hi everybody! This is actually my first blog ever. It's now Wednesday evening and the first time that I have been able to secure a computer. Hotel business centers stay busy. I am the Deputy Executive Director of The GLBT Community Center of Colorado, formally the Director of Youth Services. We have piloted several youth tobacco programs and we are just beginning to serve as lead agency for 6 statewide youth GLBTQ tobacco programs. I am here with our Youth Tobacco Program Specialist, Shana Fulkerson and two of our amazing youth- Lu Brock and Dominique Malik. We all loved the LGBTI Summit. It felt so nice to share space with like-minded folks. And, there is always something special about builing community with our community. It was nice to have the morning sessions together, the room was a great size. Panel presentations are generally interesting because hearing multiple presenters keeps the audience's attention. Hearing about tobacoo programming all around the country was helpful, it's always inspiring to learn about how folks impact their communities- funded or not. The researchers presented interesting information and I think that it's key that we community folks continue to study our populations so that the research specialists can keep filling those gaps in the literature. We presented in the afternoon about youth programming and really appreciated having an opportunity to talk to folks who already knew how to create safe space for the GLBTQ population. Today we presented at NCTOH, it was great experience. The room was full of professioanls and we actually ran out of handouts. I figured 30 packets would be plenty but we had people fighting for them. The group asked great questions and we had two women from the CDC attend our session. It was great to talk to one of them after the session and have her ask specific questions about how she could be a stronger advocate for our youth. Thank you so very much for the opportunity to attend. Putting faces with names was a great step toward collaboration. I learned about other resources and was pretty amazed by the amount of people committed to the cause. Minneapolis was a great host city. I enjoyed exploring and found that getting around was pretty easy. I enjoyed this visit more than I imagined that I would but the thought of going back home is making me smile. I have a 10 month old baby boy at home, that says it all. So, thanks very much and I hope to see you all in Phoenix in 09. Go Rockies!