By Enrique Campos, Safe Schools Desert Cities board member
When I was a freshman in high school back in 2012, I attended my first Safe Schools Desert Cities (SSDC) event, Pride Prom, held at the Palm Springs Art Museum. It was there where I realized there was a world beyond my conservative desert town, that there were other LGBT kids who simply wanted a place to be themselves, feel safe, and work up the courage to dance in public. Today, I have the privilege of serving on the SSDC board of directors, ensuring that events such as Pride Prom, Leadership & Empowerment Camp, Rainbow Youth Summit, and the Youth Zone at Palm Springs Pride continue for the next generation of students.
My time with SSDC seems to have come full circle in that I was once an attendee at these events, marching in the Palm Springs Pride Parade, attending sessions at the Rainbow Youth Summit, and applying for SSDC scholarships, all of which were made possible by the amazing volunteers at SSDC, some of whom I have had the privilege of working with to this day.
Today, I get to make these events happen and create and protect the same safe space that I found myself in, and I get to do it for kids from all over the Coachella Valley and beyond. This work isn’t easy, SSDC is completely volunteer-run and has been since its inception. But every hour put in, every tabling event attended, every early morning parade prep, and every drop of sweat is worth it to see another young kid find their community and to know that we at SSDC are here for them, not just to make sure they feel safe at our events, but to give them the tools to advocate for themselves and their community long after high school.
