See upcoming youth events at Center Calendar: Youth

The Center’s Youth Enrichment Services Program (Y.E.S.) was founded in 1989 to provide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth (13 to 22 years old) with crisis-intervention counseling, peer support, community building and HIV prevention services in a safe, drug and alcohol-free environment. Ending isolation for LGBT youth, through activity-based programming, support groups and peer leadership development, continues to be one of the primary goals of the program.

Y.E.S. has expanded into an integrated, holistic, empowerment program that supports the creation of a vibrant youth culture through the arts and peer education programs.

The primary guiding principle behind all of Y.E.S. programming and services is youth empowerment: focusing on the strengths, expertise, and hope of young people, and providing them with plenty of opportunities for leadership, skills development, and self-expression within the context of a supportive community. 

Our first pilot Community Camp was in 1996 and for more than a decade is still going strong, empowering LGBT young people with the support, knowledge and skills they need to take charge of their own health and well-being.

Safer Schools Program, originally named SIGNS, was established in 1996 and for more than a decade has been creating change in lives of innumerable students and hundreds of schools across the country.

From OutYouth Magazine to OutSpoken Views, we have created a publication by LGBT youth for LGBT youth since 1994 filled with poetry, photos, visual art, advice, resources, and much more, giving LGBT youth an outlet for their art and to have their voices heard.

contact us Call 212.556.9300 and ask for the Y.E.S. program (or a specific staff person's name), or email us at YES@gaycenter.org.