Mission: Mountain Meadow is a progressive and diverse community dedicated to providing a supportive and safe space for all children of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) and other non-traditional families and their allies.

Vision: Mountain Meadow creates a safe and supportive community where children of LGBTQ families are empowered to affirm and appreciate family diversity. We aspire to incorporate these values that will challenge oppression and create on-going social change. Through the cultivation of multi-generational relationships, Mountain Meadow will enhance communication skills and cultural acceptance while providing programming specific to awareness and celebration of non-traditional families and their allies. Mountain Meadow instills our children with the confidence to be competent in the face of ignorance and intolerance.

Description:
Summer Program: For the past sixteen years, Mountain Meadow has provided a supportive and empowering two-week residential summer program for up to 80 children ages 9-16 from LGBTQ and other non-traditional families. The Summer Program is an opportunity for youth to let down their guards and truly discover themselves in a safe and supportive community that is both physically and figuratively removed from parental and societal pressures. Activities are designed to increase self-esteem, encourage self and family pride, and develop the youth’s leadership capabilities.

Diversity and Leadership Training: Summer Program participants ages 14-16 take part in an additional three-part Diversity and Leadership Training designed to develop social awareness and leadership skills in an effort to address homophobia and other forms of oppression. The Diversity and Leadership Training’s three components include: teambuilding and leadership development, awareness raising regarding issues of oppression and privilege, and translating new awareness into action.

SIT and Junior Staff Program: Mountain Meadow’s Staff-In-Training (SIT) and Junior staff programs allow summer program participants ages 16 and 17, respectfully, to further develop their leadership potential. SITs participate in intensive training regarding topics such as: child development, the mental and physical health of program participants, how to work with children who have special needs, issues of sexual harassment, exploring sexuality, and non-violent conflict resolution. SITs also participate in daily discussions on topics such as: exploring gender expression and transgender oppression, body image and the media, and how to build a diverse community. Junior Staff attend staff orientation and are integrated into the staff, but receive additional support and training throughout the program.

Youth Talk: Youth Talk is a monthly program offered in partnership with Philadelphia Family Pride (PFP) for youth ages 8-16 from LGBTQ families. Youth Talk is designed to provide an opportunity for these young people to develop a social support network of other youth, adults, and families who respect, celebrate, and appreciate differences. Youth Talk is divided into three age groups: 8-10, 11-13, and 14-16. Each group participates in monthly activities, discussion groups, and events that increase self-esteem and leadership skills and address issues relevant to the LGBTQ community.

Family Programming: In the fall of 2006, Mountain Meadow’s Youth Talk Program began offering monthly programming for families with children of all ages. Programming has included: potluck meals, craft activities, a family show and tell, and a New Year’s Eve family dance and youth sleepover party. These programs provide a fun and safe space for youth and parents to build supportive relationships. Including children of all ages allows families to benefit from Mountain Meadow’s programs earlier in their child’s life.

Parent Coffee Groups: Mountain Meadow recently began offering a parents’ coffee group twice a month. These groups provide LGBTQ parents with the space to connect and support each other while their youth are participating in Youth Talk programming.

Philadelphia Pride Parade: Under Mountain Meadow’s initiative, three generations of LGBTQ families march together each year in the Philadelphia Pride Parade. PFLAG- Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Philadelphia Family Pride – a network for LGBTQ parents, and Mountain Meadow’s youth draw cheers from the crowd as they all march together through the center of Philadelphia. It is a tremendously empowering experience for the youth involved to receive cheers for being open and out about their families.

Family Zones: Mountain Meadow and Philadelphia Family Pride collaborate efforts to offer “Family Zones” at Pride Events in the Philadelphia area. Although many LGBTQ people have children, Pride Events have not traditionally been “kid friendly.” Family Zones provide activities for youth of all ages.

History:
Mountain Meadow was founded in 1981 by Julie Greenberg, a feminist lesbian rabbi from Philadelphia. Greenberg developed and administered Mountain Meadow as a feminist summer camp for girls until 1987. After a brief organizational hiatus, Rebecca Subar and Merle Berman revived Mountain Meadow in 1991. Motivated by their inability to find organized activities mirroring their social activist and leadership values for their own children, Subar and Berman worked with other activists committed to social change in the Philadelphia community to form a Planning Collective that designed and implemented a youth-centered, nonprofit Summer Program for children of all genders with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) parents.

For the past sixteen consecutive years, Mountain Meadow has offered a residential Summer Program providing an opportunity for young people ages 9-17 in LGBTQ and other non-traditional families to form a social support network, develop a positive sense of self in an affirming environment, and acquire skills to cope with and confront the homophobia, sexism, racism, classism, and other forms of oppression they face on a regular basis. For the past five years, Mountain Meadow has offered additional year-round programming to youth from LGBTQ families in the Philadelphia area. Sixteen years after beginning programming for youth from LGBTQ families, Mountain Meadow remains the only organization in the entire Eastern United States whose mission is to provide supportive and empowering programming to youth from LGBTQ and other nontraditional families.

Contact person: Randi Sherman, Program Director, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (215) 772-0313

Address:

1315 Spruce Street, Suite 411 Philadelphia, PA 19107 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.mountainmeadow.org

Miscellaneous Information

Are court referrals welcomed?
	Yes