#Step up for students jacksonville free

The third step, which began this month, was to begin inviting private schools to participate voluntarily and free of cost.

The second step was to introduce Safe and Healthy Schools to private school organizations. Petersburg and Jacksonville offices in March, prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The first step was cultural training for Step Up staff, which took place in the St. The two organizations began discussing a partnership to expand this program more than two years ago, and signed a memorandum of understanding in February. It aims to create a culture of inclusion while countering the bullying, harassment, social isolation and bigotry that dramatically increase risk factors for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) students. The bottom line is that every student should feel safe, no matter whether the school is public or private.”Įquality Florida’s five-year-old Safe and Healthy Schools program is used in public school districts around the state. “Any time we can step inside any school to offer help to students, we want to be there. “This is an exciting opportunity for us,” says Equality Florida chief executive officer Nadine Smith. That money is aimed at providing four years of ongoing training services for private school administrators and teachers, provided by Equality Florida’s Safe Schools team and coordinated by Step Up’s staff. Step Up has raised $1 million privately to seed the multi-year endeavor. The goal is for Equality Florida to expand a current public school-based LGBTQ training program to private schools with scholarship students. Equality Florida, the state’s leading LGBTQ rights organization, has joined forces with Step Up For Students, the state’s largest K-12 scholarship organization, to bring LGBTQ awareness training to private schools wishing to participate.