Transcript
Jeff Guin (00:26):
Welcome to Beyond Vizcaya, the show that features the people and places neighboring Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, Florida. I’m Jeff, and before we introduce today’s guest, I’d like to encourage you to check out all of our content on LGBTQ Plus history and experience at BeyondVizcaya.org. While you’re there, we’d love for you to sign up for our email list so we can share our freshest content with you.
(00:51):
Today we’re turning the spotlight on one of our partners in content creation. Safe School South Florida Champions the rights of LGBTQ Plus youth, educators, and parents about creating safe environments through advocacy, education, and support. Today, joining us from Safe Schools is Scott Galvin, executive director, and Reverend Harold Marrero, chief operating officer.
(01:14):
In a moment, Scott and Harold will share more about their work with Safe Schools South Florida. And they’ll share some personal stories from their own journeys. But first, we’d like to take you behind the scenes into the Safe School Studio.
(Pre-Recorded Piece Starts)
Rev. Harold Marrero (01:27):
Hi, my name is Reverend Harold Marrero, and I am the COO for Safe School South Florida.
Tiffany (01:33):
Hi, my name’s Tiffany. I’m the director of outreach and programming for Safe School South Florida, as well as the TV host for Tiffany Explains It All.
Rev. Harold Marrero (01:41):
So Safe Schools has been around for over 30 years. We were started in 1991 and we are an organization that was started by educators to protect educators. And eventually with the goal of also protecting LGBTQ Plus children, particularly students in middle school and high school.
Tiffany (01:56):
The first year that I was doing stuff for Safe Schools, I was actually just a host personnel. So I was just doing the Tiffany Explains It All show and going to events and stuff like that.
(02:07):
And it wasn’t until I think my second year into it that they asked me to be part of the actual staff and getting to go to high schools and talking to students and stuff like that. So that’s kind of how I quote/unquote stumbled upon my position.
Rev. Harold Marrero (02:24):
I have been with the organization for a very long time, since I was in my early 20s. I started out as a volunteer and then I was a youth speaker for the organization. I was eventually brought on to be the web developer and marketing person. And during the pandemic, Scott asked me to step up and to do some more digital programming because we weren’t allowed to be back in the schools.
(02:46):
That same strategy that we developed during COVID was what allowed us to switch gears fairly quickly and really pump up digital programming to deliver educational to youth across not just South Florida, but across Florida. And because it is digital, it is now being consumed across the nation and in other parts of the world as well.
(03:10):
One of them is Tiffany Explains It All, which is based on Clarissa Explains It All from Nickelodeon. And it’s really just like a show that is fun, that is Tiffany talking about different genres, anime films, cartoons. And it looks at it through a queer perspective. So how did this format of entertainment inspire queer Millennials and continue to inspire queer Gen Z today?
Tiffany (03:38):
I was told the show idea from Harold. He was like, “Oh, it’s a spin-off of Clarissa Explains It All, or kind of inspired by.” So for me, in my mind I was like, “Okay, so I really don’t have to change much because technically my host personnel, it’s just me.
(03:57):
But if I were to describe it as putting the happy knob at a max. Of just having to be like, “Oh, my gosh, hi, guys.” Being the best friend to the person that I’m talking to through the screen. And to me that felt like that was the best way to talk about something that was more light-hearted because most of the topics I talked about was about media stuff.
(04:22):
And so I wanted it to be fun in the sense that depending on the topic of the video that I would do, I would dress myself in a way that would basically mimic the things that I was talking about. Getting to do Tiffany Explains It All has just given me an opportunity to express my artistic self a lot more than I would normally, and it’s just me being myself basically.
Rev. Harold Marrero (04:54):
So it’s been very difficult, but it’s been a very fulfilling journey to see how Safe Schools has evolved and become something that is much larger than what we used to be. And that evolution, particularly leaning into technology, has allowed us to have a much broader reach than we ever had before.
(05:16):
I mean, according to our statistical data, last year we reached over half a million people through our different platforms. And that’s more than we’ve ever reached, even from the previous 29 years that we’ve been doing this. So it’s been quite a journey this past two years.
Tiffany (05:33):
I think the biggest reward was this past summer when we did our Heroes Hangout. And getting to create safe spaces for our queer youth, for high school and college students. We even had some, like pre-teens is there as well. We had so many different types of people from the spectrum as well.
(05:51):
And it was so interesting getting to see everyone from all different branches, intersectionalities, disabilities, things like that, to come together for a one common thing, which was just talking about comic books or video games or anime. And then getting to take them to an actual convention and they really enjoyed it. So I’m looking forward to the next projects we have going on for the rest of the school year.
(Pre-Recorded Piece Ends)
Jeff Guin (06:15):
Welcome back and thank you, Scott and Harold, for joining us today.
Rev. Harold Marrero (06:20):
Of course. Glad to be here.
Scott Galvin (06:21):
Glad to be here. It’s fantastic.
Jeff Guin (06:25):
Harold, I’d like to start with you. Give us the broad strokes of what Safe Schools, South Florida does.
Rev. Harold Marrero (06:31):
Yeah, since 1991 Safe Schools South Florida has been at the forefront of advocacy for LGBTQ Plus youth educators and parents across South Florida. As the only organization that we really made up of a bunch of educators and people that really care about the needs of our students, we have been very influential in how we protect our youth. How we protect our educators, and how we empower our parents to make good decisions for their kids regarding a lot of what you see happening here in Florida and across really the country.
(07:09):
Our work spans from empowering LGBTQ Plus youth through education and advocacy to providing crucial support systems. We address issues like anti-bullying, mental health, and HIV and AIDS awareness, plus no nonsense safe sex education, which the kids are not getting right now in our school systems. So we really want to ensure that all students or educators and their parents have the resources that they need to succeed and to really be their most authentic self, and that’s what it’s really all about.
(07:38):
Plus we also want to bring some fun. Too many times, there’s a lot of focus on the negatives of what’s happening in the world. We want to give our kids the opportunity to not only learn about that and be empowered and supported for that, but also just have a good time and see that it is not all bad. There are pockets of hope, there are pockets of fun. And that’s where we really want to shine and help create safe environments for all people, particularly our LGBTQ Plus youth here in South Florida.
Jeff Guin (08:12):
Super cool, and we’ll talk about the applications of that in a minute. But first, Scott, I wanted to see if you would just tell us a little bit about Safe School’s history. It’s been around for more than 30 years.
Scott Galvin (08:24):
Sure. We were founded in 1991 by Robert Loupo. Robert Loupo was a Dade County public school teacher. He was openly queer and being that at that time period, for those of us of a certain age who remember the Anita Bryant years, which were the late ’70s into the early ’80s, only a few years later is Robert openly queer as a school teacher.
(08:51):
He saw the need for public school teachers to be able to access information to talk to their LGBTQ Plus youth. That was not easy to come by at that point because in the early ’90s, the internet didn’t even exist. So you had to hope there was something published somewhere that you could put your hands on. And even then, what do you do? Go run down to the teacher’s lounge and make photocopies and then mail it to everybody?
(09:20):
Robert knew that there was a space that needed to be filled for queer teachers to not only come together to get resource and information for their kids, but also just to talk to one another. Like me, back in high school in the ’80s, I didn’t know any other gay people. Nobody was out. Nobody talked about things like that.
(09:44):
So Robert recognized that in the early ’90s when he founded Safe Schools, there was really a space for teachers to be able to come together just in congregation with each other. To be able to know that they all existed and to maybe have a couple of glasses of wine together and enjoy.
Jeff Guin (10:06):
Got it. Well, Safe Schools obviously had a very strong foundation, but like lots of organizations, it’s had to pivot in the last few years. The world has changed in quite a few ways, and that pivot had a lot to do with both you and Harold meeting. So why don’t you tell us that story?
Scott Galvin (10:24):
So traditionally in schools between 1991 and essentially 2020, we worked with school teachers with the blessing of school administrations and the school boards. We worked inside of schools with the Gay Straight Alliance Clubs, and some of your listeners or watchers might be familiar with those. There were groups of kids that would come together, like any other club after school, to fraternize with each other.
(10:54):
So for three decades, the better part of three decades, that’s how we operated. We did training sessions for school teachers to be able to understand the LGBTQ alphabet, which can even be confusing for some of us. It gave them the opportunity to talk to one another, learn a few things, to give some support to their kids. And then along came COVID. COVID shut down the schools. Absolutely, literally.
(11:24):
Now, Safe Schools relies on donations. I had just come into the executive director’s position in early 2020 when COVID shut down the schools. We had grant deadlines we still had to meet to be able to receive funding. I wasn’t going to be able to just have the luxury of saying, “Well, schools are closed. We don’t know when they’re going to reopen. We’ll wait until after it’s over.”
(11:51):
I mean, at that moment, we all remember the panic. Was it going to be a year? Two years? Was this going to be something that affected us the rest of our lives? So I had to come up with another way for us to be able to do outreach to kids. I knew the kids were still there.
(12:06):
Well, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that the internet and video was the way to reach kids. My church, First United Methodist Church, was doing some really cool stuff at the beginning of COVID. Broadcasting church services live, live stream, Facebook, doing some creative stuff with storytelling for kids.
(12:33):
I was like, “Well, this is really cool.” And just by dumb coincidence, when I asked the pastor of my church, Audrey Warren, “How do I learn about what you’re doing?” That she said, “Well, we’re using this guy named Harold Marrero.” And Harold, I knew by name even though we’d not met yet in person because of all that was happening with COVID, I knew by name was already on retainer with Safe Schools. Dumb chance, fate, coincidence, providence.
(13:08):
So when Audrey said, “Pastor Warren said it’s this guy named Harold,” I already had Harold’s number in my phone and called him and said, “Hey, what can we do to bring Safe Schools programs to kids during COVID in a fun and digital manner?” And that’s where I reached out to Harold.
Rev. Harold Marrero (13:30):
Yeah, I… Yeah. Go ahead.
Jeff Guin (13:31):
Go ahead. Tell us your side of the story.
Rev. Harold Marrero (13:34):
Yeah, I remember when I got the phone call, my husband and I, we were walking outside because we’ve been indoors for so long, and we started taking walks. And as soon as Scott said, “Hey, I want to do something digital you’ve been doing with First United Methodist, Church of Miami.” I said, “Yes, let’s do it.”
(13:55):
I took on that challenge, even though I had never done something like that before, because I knew that it was important. I knew that we had to do something to reach our youth where they were at, and they weren’t in schools anymore. So they still have access to their phones, still have access to the internet. So I really wanted to work with Scott to do something cool and innovative. And I’ve been very fortunate to have someone like Scott in my life who sees ideas and just says, “Yes, let’s do it.”
(14:26):
Really jump on things and develop things fairly quickly. So very, almost like in a couple of weeks, we got some youth to send us their videos of them talking about different things, different subjects. We had celebrities sent us messages of hope and messages that said, “This will end. Keep the faith, keep holding on. Things are going to get better.” We had local celebrities and local drag talent also do the same thing.
(14:58):
We had some educational workshops for kids. We had yoga, we had HIV training. We did all this during the pandemic when very few organizations that were serving youth were reaching them where they were at. And this really gave us the tools and the resources for us to then continue to do this digital pivot when Don’t Say Gay became law. Because we weren’t able to be in the schools because of the pandemic.
(15:29):
When schools did start, that’s when Don’t Say Gay came into effect. So we weren’t able to go into the schools again, but we already had a platform. We already had something, a good foundation for us to continue the work that we were doing. And that was one of those things that really, really helped us not only remain relevant, but also continue to reach the kids where they’re at.
Scott Galvin (15:53):
And if I can, I want to give a shout-out to Amara La Negra and Perez Hilton for being those celebrities that stepped up in the early days. They didn’t know who we were. Our kids know who they are, but the idea was that they would step up so quickly to say, “Hey, yes, we all recognize we’re in this together. This is such a weird time. We’ll record PSAs for you,” essentially is what it was. So Amara and Perez were absolute champions in the moment.
Jeff Guin (16:24):
Well, speaking of champions, Scott, one of the things that I really appreciate about Safe Schools is how it affirms and uplifts the concept of otherness, folks for whom the traditional labels don’t apply. So how intentional has that been? And what are some of the tools that you’re using to do that?
Scott Galvin (16:42):
So in high school, I was a big nerd. Some people would still believe that I am today, but I was certifiably a nerd. We used to host, me and my friends used to host Star Trek parties. And in the Homecoming Parade in 1985, a bunch of us dressed up like V, for those of you who were really into science fiction. We were nerds, we were others, we were outcasts. I’ve always been drawn to that, I think in a lot of different ways.
(17:14):
So in recent months with Safe Schools, we had a partnership with the South Florida Supercon, or the Florida Supercon, excuse me. And that’s the big comic book convention that happens on Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center on an annual basis. And they asked us to run some youth programming for them. We did, but we not only did it the weekend of Supercon during July, we did it in a series of workshops leading up to that. We wanted to build momentum and build a place where kids could come together to celebrate otherness. Being nerds, being science fiction, being comic books.
(17:58):
And it just really came out well because we ran these series of Heroes Hangouts, as we called them, these workshops designed to build up around Florida Supercon. And we didn’t advertise any of it as LGBTQ or queer. We recognize there’s already an overlap between some of those natural audiences, sort of like theater clubs and music groups. They tend to draw the LGBTQ community.
(18:28):
We just put on a series of workshops building towards Supercon, built around the comic book world. And it really went off well. It was the first time we had delved into doing in-person independent youth groups. Remember, we couldn’t do things inside schools anymore because COVID led immediately into Don’t Say Gay. Schools are shut down for us, that was our traditional world. Now how do we do something separate and different? And the Heroes Hangouts leading up to Supercon were super fantastically received.
Jeff Guin (19:04):
Harold?
Rev. Harold Marrero (19:05):
Yeah, and I would add to that, that for me, I have been very fortunate to develop my academic career in very progressive spaces. And one of the things that I made sure that to really focus on is the whole concept of queerness and expanding queerness.
(19:25):
And like Scott, I am a nerd. I love Star Trek. I love that whole concept of we are so much more than the labels that people put in us. We are so much more than even the person that we were at any given time. We are allowed to evolve.
(19:42):
And part of what I wanted to do with Safe Schools is really showcase how much we have been influenced by media, by the things that we grew up with. By Captain Planet, by Sailor Moon, when it comes to anime. By Gundam and the many concepts that it has. By Star Trek and Star Wars and all of these things, even superheroes. Yes, there are times lack of representation, but there are concepts in there that are inherently queer.
(20:17):
And when we talk about expanding queerness, we need to understand that there is, whenever one falls outside of the heteronormative hegemony that exists right now, you have fallen into what it means to be queer. You’ve fallen into this queer space. And what Safe Schools has been doing is really create these spaces for people that may not even have a label for themselves, but they feel they want to be around other people that truly accept and embrace their authenticity.
(20:50):
So it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do or who you say you are, you are welcome in our spaces. And I feel like youth today have evolved so quickly because our environment has really made it easy for them to evolve. And that’s something that is great. And something that Safe Schools has really helped do in the public schools in that we embrace them, we want to give them that safe space. And I think that’s something that we have really done a great job at doing in the last couple of years since we started really ramping up our digital presence with Safe Schools.
Jeff Guin (21:28):
All right. Well, let’s expand on that a little bit more in its application to you. I want you to think about your own journey and how do you identify with that concept of otherness, especially as you were growing up? Because, Harold, you’re a reverend. So just wondered how you came to reconcile your identity with your faith?
Rev. Harold Marrero (21:47):
Yeah, that was a journey. And I will say from the beginning, I never felt that I was unloved or that I was sinful or doing something wrong when I became aware of my own queerness and my own identity. I always felt that I was loved by this enormous force in the universe.
(22:11):
And the ones that had a problem were the humans, were the people. Were the people that were claiming to adhere to whatever laws they were adhering to or whatever they wanted to choose to attack or to hate other people.
(22:27):
I never felt that. And because I never felt that, I never felt like I should make other people feel othered. I remembered that my friend groups growing up were very diverse. And in high school, even though I was part of the quote/unquote, the popular kids, I wasn’t part of that group. I actually created my own group with the outcasts of all of the other groups.
(22:54):
And we all met, we all got together at the band hall. We had people that liked anime, we had drama kids, we had band kids. We had the smart kids, we had the kids that were in sports. And all of those people were part of this little collective that I was able to put together in high school.
(23:12):
And that, learning from each other’s otherness made high school so much more bearable for me. And for me, it lays out this whole concept of what it means to be queer. And what it means to be accepted for exactly who you are and for the person that you will become and that you are becoming. Because we’re not stuck in time. We evolve, we grow, and I’ve always wanted to create community and create a space that allows that.
(23:45):
And for me, the church at its best does that. And that is something that I really have worked really hard to bring to Safe Schools as well, which is that creation of a space that affirms people for who they are, where they’re at, and encourages them and empowers them to grow and to be better and to do better. And to really be their most authentic self. And that’s something that is very important for me.
Jeff Guin (24:12):
Scott, you share a little bit of that philosophy too, but you’ve taken a different track. So you’re a Miami native, going back, as you told me, back to the days when it was pronounced My-am-muh.
Scott Galvin (24:22):
My-am-muh.
Jeff Guin (24:25):
And you’re also the longest-serving queer legislator in Florida. Would you share a little bit about that journey, how it started for you? And how does your identity factor into your desire to be in public service? Because you’re making a transition soon, right?
Scott Galvin (24:41):
Sure. Yeah, in about eight days. So I grew up here in Dade County in the City of North Miami. I always tell people, “Whatever your question is for me, biographically, the answer is always going to be North Miami.” I’ve been here all 55 years of my life. Where did I go to elementary? Where did I go to junior high? Where’d I go to high school? Where’d I graduate college? North Miami, North Miami, North Miami.
(25:05):
I am so thrilled that I stayed in South Florida. Anybody who was here in the late ’70s and the early ’80s, which were my formative years, you know that our culture, our makeup as a city was vastly different. That’s where I’d throw in the My-am-muh reference, that old Florida cracker accent.
(25:28):
And then came the Mariel boatlift and then came the riots, the McDuffie riots of the early ’80s, and then came Miami Vice. I absolutely love the melting pot, the flavors, the spices, and everything else that South Florida has evolved into. Christo’s Surrounded Islands. I mean, these were my junior high and high school years.
(25:55):
At a time when a lot of people I grew up with moved away, I stayed here. And I decided that I was going to run for office and get involved in the community and work to return to my hometown, North Miami is my hometown, the great things that it had provided me growing up. So that’s where I got involved in local politics.
(26:20):
When I came out, I did so, so that nobody would use that as a weapon against me. The fact that I was queer, that I was gay. It was North Miami is not Gayborhood, for those of you who aren’t familiar anymore, we are not Wilton Manors, we are not South Beach. Coming out as a public official was risky.
(26:43):
I didn’t realize that I would be the first. You would’ve guessed, certainly there must’ve been somebody in the ’70s or ’80s who’d gotten elected to a city commission who was openly gay. But because of the response that I got from the Miami Herald and other publications, it became apparent that, “Oh, okay, so nobody had blazed this path before.” I did so because it was the right thing to do, and I didn’t want anybody to say that I was ashamed of being gay.
(27:12):
As it’s turned out, 25 years later, it’s still super hard to find openly queer elected officials in Dade County. There’s only five or six of us, I’ll go out on a limb. I’m proud that I’ve been able to not only represent my hometown in a way that they named a community center after me. I’m sitting here right now talking to you from the Scott Galvin Community Center. They named a building after me while I’m still alive. So I’m proud that not only I’ve represented North Miami well, but hopefully represented the community well as much.
Jeff Guin (27:54):
Among your plans for Safe Schools is to host a prom for queer youth at Vizcaya. What’s the significance of that event for those youth? And why Vizcaya for the venue?
Scott Galvin (28:05):
So Vizcaya is the preeminent beautiful place. I’m not just saying that because we’re on Beyond Vizcaya with you. I mean, obviously we set this up before we even had this podcast. Anybody who knows South Florida knows that Vizcaya is the place that you go to take wedding photos or quinceañera photos. Or just see the beautiful Bay and see this architecture of this building that was designed by a gay man, which I only recently learned.
(28:33):
There is no better place, more appropriate place to have a queer prom than Vizcaya. So when we talked about doing something, Harold and I and Tiffany, it was a natural to say, “Let’s do it there.” Because we didn’t want to do it in some darkened library on a Friday afternoon. We wanted to do it over the top and special and make the kids feel absolutely special about being there.
(29:07):
So we’re super excited. It’s going to be May 31st of 2025. And we’re going to welcome queer kids from around South Florida to come and have a traditional prom, a real prom with ball gowns and limos and everything else that you and I might remember from our prom in the days gone by. We’re really, really excited about it.
Jeff Guin (29:30):
Harold, do you want to add something?
Rev. Harold Marrero (29:31):
Yeah. Part of our whole mission is to create these fun activities and fun spaces for our kids and for our youth. And traditionally, this is really for me, is a sense of equity and giving our kids, our youth, the same level of attention and the same level of fun that they’ll get in a traditional prom.
(29:56):
Usually, as Scott mentioned, these queer proms are secondary. They’re a second thought to the main prom. They’re done in libraries or in a basement somewhere. And it’s not the same level of detail, the same level of grandeur, the same level of fun, it’s not injected into it.
(30:17):
So we really wanted to do that. We really wanted to give the kids an opportunity to just be themselves but be themselves in a very grand way. And what better place to do it than Vizcaya? An LGBTQ Plus historic icon for Miami.
(30:35):
And I feel that this is a perfect amalgamation of history and the present and really the future that we are creating, all coming together in a way that is not only relevant, but is very authentic for our youth. And I am just so proud and so happy to be part of an organization that is really doing that. That is really stepping out there, stepping out on the ledge and leading and saying, “We want to provide a space for you that sees you, that cares about you, and that is there with you on this journey.”
(31:15):
That for some, is very scary. When you see what’s coming out on television, when you see what comes out of certain spots in our country, when you see some of the narrative that is coming out of our own public schools and our own public school system, a lot of kids are scared. A lot of kids, they don’t have this ability to project themselves into the future as maybe my generation head.
(31:39):
So I want to give them a sense of fun, of equity. Of just being themselves and being themselves in ways that they see, how they see themselves reflected in the mirror. And that to me is going to be an amazing thing, and we’re so happy to do it with Vizcaya.
Jeff Guin (32:01):
Awesome. Well, Scott, you were mentioning earlier that there’s a potential for folks to help make this prom possible. Talk a little bit about that. And then, Harold, maybe you’ll share some of the ways that folks can connect with Safe Schools on social media.
Rev. Harold Marrero (32:17):
Sure.
Scott Galvin (32:18):
Yeah. So for anybody listening and watching, who wants to follow Safe Schools and stay in touch, not just with the prom buildup, but with all the other things that we’re doing. We are running our own independent youth groups right now at four different faith-based locations across South Florida, three in Dade and one in Broward.
(32:37):
We enjoy a great partnership with Broward County School System. They’re going to be working with us very solidly this coming school year. But we couldn’t wait for everybody on the school board side to come back in this direction. I know they say the pendulum swings, but we’re mid-swing at this point.
(32:58):
So we started our own independent youth group. So if you want to learn more about what our youth groups are doing, you want to support us, please follow us on social media. We are on all platforms with the same handle, good marketing, at Safe Schools 1991. That was the year we were founded. At Safe Schools 1991.
(33:20):
We’ll be posting sponsorship opportunities for the prom and for all of the things that we’re doing. We do field trips and other, somebody’s got to pay for the pizza for these kids to come and get together. There’ll be a lot of opportunities for anybody out there who wants to support us and follow us at Safe Schools 1991.
Rev. Harold Marrero (33:40):
Yeah. And to add to that, we also have opportunities for people to donate and to give to us and to help us empower. And too, it’s not just donating. We want people to invest in our youth, to invest in the programs that we’re creating.
(33:59):
Safe Schools is creating very innovative ways to connect with youth. To connect with youth, not just in Florida or in South Florida, but across the nation and even across the globe because of our digital programs. So if you like what we’re doing, if you haven’t checked us out, check us out. Go to our website, SafeSchools1991.org or SafeSchoolsSouthFlorida.org.
(34:23):
See what we’re doing, check us out. Read our blog. We have a very active blog full of resources. We have a lot of resources about safe sex and HIV and AIDS. We have a lot of historical resources. We have a whole line of produced videos that it’s all about queer history. And it’s fun. It’s fun and it’s engaging, and they’re short. They’re short little videos.
(34:47):
So if you want to share this with your friends, with your kids, with your family, do so. And if you want to check out our groups, our Empower Queer Youth groups are a great opportunity for kids to come together because they’re not just going to have fun. They’re going to learn things. They’re going to learn about how to be a good leader, how to be a good digital citizen, citizenship. How to maintain their own feelings when they’re being challenged.
(35:14):
These are all tools that we are investing in our youth for their future. So if you want to check us out, go to SafeSchools1991.org/groups, and you can see the Empower Q sign up there. And if you want to volunteer with us, we love volunteers. We need volunteers. Volunteers is what makes us work. And if you’d like to volunteer with us, that’s easy. Go to SafeSchools1991.org/volunteer and you can fill out your information there.
(35:41):
We will reach out to you, we will send you an email and get you connected. And we promise we won’t spam you. We only sent out a couple of emails and we sent out one newsletter a month. So yeah, so just connect with us.
(35:55):
It really is a cool thing that we’re doing, and we can always use the help. We can always use the people. And if you like what we’re doing, reach out. We’re always willing to hear out new ideas and really produce really cool things.
Jeff Guin (36:10):
Well, Harold and Scott, it was a joy to visit with you today. Lots of good information. Thanks so much for being on the program.
Scott Galvin (36:17):
Thank you.
Rev. Harold Marrero (36:17):
Thank you, Jeff. Thank you.
Scott Galvin (36:18):
Proud to be here. Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff Guin (36:19):
That’s it for this Beyond Vizcaya Partner Spotlight. We’ll be producing more of these in the future on BeyondVizcaya.org. And we’ll certainly put the links that Harold was talking about into our show notes for this broadcast as well.
(36:33):
So we invite you to check out all of our other resources and contribute your own story there too. Until next time, I’m Jeff. Take care, everyone.
On Oct. 14, Beyond Vizcaya hosted a partner spotlight with Safe Schools South Florida. The conversation was hosted by Jeff Guin and featured Councilman Scott Galvin (District 1) and Rev. Harold Marrero, COO of Safe Schools South Florida.
Attendees discovered how local leaders were creating safer, more inclusive environments for our youth and learned about the initiatives shaping the future for young people in our communities.