See upcoming youth events at Center Calendar: Youth

Jenny DeBower, LMSW
Director, Youth & Family Services

Jenny DeBower has more than 13 years of experience in working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. She has worked in leadership positions for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, Planned Parenthood, and the AIDS Resource Center of WI. Ms. DeBower also worked at Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, ACT for Youth program where she provided training and technical assistance on the Positive Youth Development model for agencies throughout New York State. Ms. DeBower served as an adjunct instructor in Sex & Sexuality for the City University of New York. She has her Master's Degree in Social Work from Columbia University and completed the Columbia University Institute for Not-for-Profit Management in 2004.

Zola Bruce, MSW
Senior Program Coordinator, Supportive Services

Zola Zakiya Bruce is two-spirited with a southern blend of Native American and Trinidadian background. Art, travel, and traditional healing are just a few of her passions. Having ten years of youth development experience including her work at The Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, and McBurney YMCA, she continues to be inspired by working with young people. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College (BA) with a concentration in Community Psychology and Sculpture and then went on to Columbia University School of Social Work (MSW) to combine both artistic and social work talents. By day she is the YES Support Services Coordinator, managing clinical programs, providing drop-in counseling, and emotional fitness coaching. By night and weekend, she runs her own nonprofit, Unified for Global Healing, providing culturally competent health care and health care education for under served international communities. She recruits a multidisciplinary team of medical/public health professionals, social workers, and artists to work on projects in Haiti, Ghana, and India.

Christine Cruz
Learning Lab Specialist

Christine is an energetic, passionate, and fun-loving person! She is of Dominican-descent and grew up in Inwood. She started youth work when she was just 17 years old as a part of PAL (Police Athletic League) and has been so moved by doing so, that this is the career path she has chosen. Being the YES Learning Lab Specialist will allow her to reach youth in our community and she hopes to help them grow into successful and confident individuals. Christine has a BA from Connecticut College in Philosophy and wishes to pursue higher education soon.

 

Jennella Green
Coordinator, Arts & Recreation

Jenella is an equal opportunity pronoun user, has been a member of the YES staff for three years and is interested in bringing various types of art and recreational programming into the program. Previous roles as a camp counselor, archery instructor, kitchen staffer, teacher's aid, high ropes assistant and prevention specialist have molded Jennella into a jack-of-all-trades of the YES program. While daydreaming of dodge ball tactics, Jennella is often found at the desk working on some sort of art project.

V Figueroa
Prevention Specialist

V is a youthful, butch, queer, Guatemalan-Italian, California native who calls coffee a “hobby” and has a passion for books and tattoos. And sometimes imagines V as a pirate. Before working at YES V worked or volunteered in various roles with youth. V has worked at YES a little over two years, first as the Program Assistant and currently as a Prevention Specialist. V is most happy when helping others or making connections with young people to make a positive impact in their lives. V currently facilitates or co-facilitates a variety of groups such as Gender X and Sex + and has a drop-in counseling day.

 

Ricardo Martinez
Education & Family Support Specialist

Ricardo came to YES after an exciting time working to register and mobilize voters for The LGBT Center's voter registration project this past Presidential Election. Remember: “Sexy People Vote!” While attending Fordham University, he was a Vaid Fellow for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force where he continued his political education and made great connections between the policies that hurt LGBT people and his own life experiences growing up gay in a Mexican family. After graduating, Ricardo went on to work with youth at C/STEP, an academic enrichment program in the Bronx. He also worked at the Ali Forney Center. When you come to YES you may find Ricardo asking you to participate in one of the groups he facilitates such as Sex+, where youth learn about safer sex, share their experiences of navigating love, or the zine group: OutSpoken Views, where young people create artwork, stories, and poetry that is published in a bimonthly zine.

Martin Melendez
Program Assistant

Martin is a loud, out, proud, male-bodied individual, but gender non-conforming queer person of colour. Martin is a Mixed Seed of Dominican, Brasilian, and Lebanese-descent born and raised in the Bronx. Martin is an 80’s baby, a True Libra, and is fascinated by world explorers, travelers, and gypsies (so to speak). Martin has been doing youth work since junior high (ASPIRA Program woot woot) and is ecstatic to have returned to his roots combining his passion for Queer Rights, Sex Positivism, and HIV/AIDS Prevention/Care into Youth Advocacy and Development. If it doesn't work out, Martin will pursue his other dream of becoming a really tacky, over the top talk show host. Martin sometimes feel like a nut, & sometimes doesn't. Most of all, Martin is unpredictably eclectic; completely misunderstood by many, but loved by all.

 

 

Raul Rivera
Arts & Media Specialist

Raul attended Talent Unlimited High School for the Performing Arts as a theater major where at sixteen he discovered a passion for social services; by age twenty-one he already had volunteered & worked for numerous non-profit agencies such as GMHC, People Of Color In Crisis, & The Hetrick-Martin Institute; while also attending The Bronx Dance Theater on scholarship. For his community work Raul was picked for the TEACH Intern program of NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, & Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Raul completed the TEACH intern training requirements & was certified a Community Health Specialist. Raul has worked diligently mentoring, advocating, coaching, and creating innovative programming for thousands of New York City LGBT youth and has gained an in depth perspective on LGBT youth concerns; such as gender identity, HIV/AIDS prevention, sexuality, homelessness, and ballroom culture.

 

Kathy Rodriguez
Program Manager

Kathy has been doing youth work for nearly 13 years. She began as a youth activist with the youth-run youth group BiGLTYNY (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Youth of New York) where she found a passion for working with a community of young people who create safety, space, and empowerment for themselves. She has previously worked at Callen-Lorde's Health Outreach to Teens (HOTT) Program, as well as the Hetrick-Martin Institute. She recently graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a Bachelor's degree in Justice Studies. She is a performance artist, an educator, and she is thrilled to work in the very space where she found her self, her community, and her calling.

 

contact us Call 212.620.7310 and ask for the YES program (or a specific staff person's name), or email us at YES@gaycenter.org.