Video Interview, Patty Hayes, February 22, 2013

  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, so the first question is the hardest.
  • I need you give me the correct spelling of your first
  • and last name of how you want it to appear.
  • PATTY HAYES: Sure.
  • Patty, P-A-T-T-Y. Hayes, H-A-Y-E-S.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: OK, and should we
  • title you like former director at the GAGV?
  • PATTY HAYES: I was former Youth Program Coordinator
  • at the GAGV.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So if you could, let's just
  • start out about the beginnings of the youth program
  • here at the GAGV.
  • Just talk to me a little bit about the development
  • of that program, but more importantly
  • the need for the development of that program.
  • And I know you weren't initially at the beginning of it.
  • But whatever you can do to put it into context for us.
  • PATTY HAYES: Sure.
  • Well, the beginnings of the GAGV youth group were, I would say,
  • quite humble.
  • At that time, the GAGV was minimally staffed, right?
  • And so many programs that were happening
  • were being run by volunteers with some staff support.
  • And so the beginnings of the youth group
  • was that it was very much volunteer facilitators.
  • First, there was just two people.
  • And then eventually, it would broaden out
  • to a group of adults who had been screened
  • and had stepped forward that they were
  • willing to co-facilitate a weekly support
  • group for young people.
  • And so it was very grassroots.
  • It was very minimally staffed.
  • It was very minimally--
  • I won't say supported.
  • I mean, there wasn't a lot of resources.
  • There wasn't a lot of resources for anything at that point
  • when you think back to what life was like for young people
  • in really the 1990s.
  • And the group ran.
  • Young people came.
  • Adult facilitators supported them.
  • Some of those young people then aged out.
  • And they would spend a year or two away.
  • And then they would come back as an adult facilitator.
  • So they'd take a bit of a gap in there to get a bit of distance
  • from the group.
  • And I think a real important turning
  • point was when the Gay Alliance received
  • a grant from the New York State Department of Health.
  • Tanya Smolinsky wrote the grant and had the foresight
  • to think this money, which by the state
  • was earmarked for non-HIV related health programming--
  • and she really made the case that funneling
  • the money towards the youth programs
  • was indeed a health Imperative.
  • And so when that happened at that point,
  • I was one of the adult volunteers with the youth
  • group.
  • So every four weeks, every three weeks,
  • every six weeks depending on who was on vacation or not,
  • I would go co-facilitate the group often
  • with my partner at the time.
  • And so when the funding came up, the search
  • began for a youth program coordinator.
  • And it was initially a part time position.
  • So the hope was that this individual
  • would continue to co-facilitate the weekly group,
  • but also build the volunteer base
  • and be able to actually start doing some things
  • outside of the group like case management,
  • advocacy, maybe a little bit of crisis counseling.
  • And a couple of rounds went by.
  • And finally, I think by the third round, I had thought,
  • you know what?
  • Maybe I'll throw my hat in the ring.
  • So that would have been the fall of '99
  • was when they were able to implement with the funding.
  • And so I started out part time.
  • And indeed, I was doing some case managing.
  • And I think just being able to tell the young people,
  • there's something else besides this two hour a week
  • support group, the needs emerged like that to the point
  • where, within four or five months of me being hired
  • as this part time staff, Tanya and I
  • sat down with some of the other leadership at that time
  • and said, part time is not going to cut it anymore.
  • Because there was all the program development
  • that was going on.
  • But as word was getting out that there was now an LGBT youth
  • worker, young people are coming to me
  • that they're dropping out of school, because they can't
  • take the homophobia anymore.
  • Parents are calling me saying, my kid's getting bullied,
  • my kid's getting harassed, I don't know where else to turn.
  • Young people are coming to me after group saying,
  • I'm couchsurfing right now, I've got nowhere to stay,
  • I can't go home, I can't go home, I came out
  • and the violence is too much, or the potential
  • of violence, or my parents just told me I have to get out.
  • And so by like May or June--
  • so what was that?
  • Like six, seven months later--
  • I was working, I'd say, full time,
  • but it was full time plus.
  • And it seemed like it was a wise decision.
  • Because the more I was there, the more the needs
  • emerged from the young people, from their families,
  • and from various agencies and not schools right off the bat,
  • but teachers, and counselors, and more progressive vice
  • principals.
  • They were calling to access training and supports
  • and emergency case management.
  • And so within a short time, just getting
  • that extra financial boost to be able to do some out of the box
  • programming, things just blossomed and bloomed
  • in ways that were really amazing, really truly amazing.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: How significant is it
  • that a small, little city like Rochester
  • can have such a very progressive, forthcoming youth
  • group for gay and lesbian kids?
  • PATTY HAYES: I think that's a complicated thing
  • to think about, what made the youth programs, like what
  • came together at that point and that time
  • to make it so significant.
  • I think it was so many things.
  • I think part of it was the Gay Alliance
  • was already established.
  • The youth group was there.
  • It had a good track record.
  • It was again very small, very grassroots.
  • But the Gay Alliance had a track record
  • of doing different programming and the Empty Closet
  • had a long track record of being around in the community.
  • I think there was a lot of other church groups
  • and professional groups that were just ripe, and ready,
  • and hungering to support something,
  • to jump on something.
  • And I think also there's something very interesting
  • about Rochester.
  • Because with the businesses, it feels fiscally
  • a bit conservative, but has this really long track record
  • of being socially progressive with the Abolitionist Movement,
  • the Suffragist Movement.
  • And so I think there's something in the water
  • here, that things just really came together.
  • And I think that allowed the Gay Alliance and the youth programs
  • not just to provide support to the young people,
  • but to really be prepared to be a leader around LGBT youth
  • issues whether it was again to schools,
  • to other service providers.
  • And at one point when I was here,
  • there were youth programs-- there
  • was an even longer standing youth program in Buffalo.
  • There were some burgeoning youth programs in Syracuse
  • and in the southern tier.
  • And we had such momentum that I was
  • able to pull together a network actually
  • of all the people running LGBT youth programs from Syracuse
  • over to the Canadian border and down to Pennsylvania.
  • And we would gather maybe once a quarter,
  • once every four months.
  • And GAGV was one of the leaders to say,
  • well, this is what we're working on next,
  • or this is how we're looking to foster GSAs.
  • And it was very gratifying to be able to partner
  • not just with people in Rochester,
  • but to really partner with LGBT youth providers
  • in this part of New York.
  • Because it's very different than running
  • LGBT programs in New York City.
  • It's a whole other ball game in this part of the state.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Well, talk to me about that a little bit.
  • Why is it different?
  • PATTY HAYES: I think it's a different social situation.
  • It's a different economic situation.
  • In a big city, I think you have more access perhaps
  • to LGBT community.
  • It's much more out there.
  • I think especially once you leave an immediate urban area,
  • the social conservatism goes up.
  • And so for the youth programs here
  • in Rochester, I had young people driving and sometimes
  • from an hour or more away every week to get here.
  • It wasn't just a simple bus ride or a simple subway
  • ride that you might have in a big city.
  • And not to say that's easy for the young people there,
  • but there was a real commitment on the part of the young people
  • to get here, yeah.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Let's backtrack a little bit.
  • Even before it was formally developed,
  • when it was just this grassroots volunteer kind of thing,
  • there was a big risk being taken to put gays, and lesbians,
  • and children together.
  • I mean, there was the risk of really having
  • a community backlash there.
  • And so I just want to get your thoughts on that
  • and if there was any backlash.
  • What was the Rochester community's reaction to that?
  • PATTY HAYES: I'll be honest.
  • I can't speak to the earliest days.
  • I can't speak to the earliest days,
  • because I was actually eighteen, nineteen myself, right?
  • So my recollections and my agenda at the time
  • were quite different.
  • But certainly by the time I had signed on, I was a young adult.
  • By the time I had signed on as a volunteer,
  • I think people respected the program,
  • they saw its necessity.
  • I think people were happy it was there for young people.
  • But I don't know if it was as front and center.
  • Certainly as with any youth program,
  • there is a level of screening of the adults.
  • Because you want to make sure that they're safe people.
  • But no, there wasn't ambivalence,
  • but there certainly wasn't the energy there.
  • Or for the confidentiality and protection of the young people,
  • it wasn't necessarily widely advertised programs.
  • Because we needed and wanted to keep it safe.
  • I think there was always a concern about,
  • would someone with ill intention who found out
  • when and where the group might show up,
  • either to cause problems for the young people one
  • way or the other?
  • So I think there was a level of protection
  • that caused us to want to keep it close at hand.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So talk to me about the experience
  • of a meeting here, the experience
  • of coming to the youth group from a youth point of view.
  • What was it like?
  • What was the camaraderie like?
  • What were some of the things that were being talked about?
  • Essentially, what was the impact that it was really
  • having with these young kids?
  • PATTY HAYES: Yeah, they were truly remarkable, they
  • are truly remarkable, their courage and their bravery,
  • their insight about who they were.
  • And some young people--
  • it was such a mix.
  • Some young people were coming without anybody
  • knowing they were there.
  • And they had given parents or caregivers some--
  • I don't know what they told them.
  • I'm going to the library.
  • I'm going to Joe's house.
  • I'm going wherever.
  • And they would come.
  • And I had tried to always foster a very welcoming atmosphere.
  • And I always tried to get some of the youth who
  • had been around for a while to be
  • on the lookout for a new member, in that I would have
  • young people give a new person the tour of the space
  • and have them orient the young person-- here's how group
  • works, and this is our mission statement,
  • and let me introduce you to these other people.
  • Because I really felt the youth knew best what
  • was what it was like for them.
  • I had other young people whose parents called me desperate
  • and said, my child's come out to me, I can see them struggling,
  • I really think they need to meet some other young people.
  • I want them to feel safe and have a place to talk.
  • Because they might not, they're teenagers,
  • they don't want to share everything with me.
  • How do I get my kid to you?
  • And with those parents, not only would I have the young person
  • get oriented, but I would try and give the parent
  • a tour of the space.
  • And I would sit down with a parent.
  • Because I wanted to make sure they had what they needed,
  • not just that their child had what they needed.
  • And I could say we talk about everything and anything.
  • I really tried to foster that there
  • is nothing you can ask me or say to me or any of the adults here
  • who care about you that will shock us,
  • surprise us, or make us love you any less than we do.
  • And everything from very, very frank discussions about sex
  • and sexual behavior to school issues, to family issues.
  • Religion and spirituality was always a big one.
  • Drugs, alcohol, homelessness, anything and everything
  • was fair game as far as I was concerned.
  • And when I first came on board as a paid staff member,
  • the focus was very much a support group.
  • And so we approached a lot of things like,
  • oh, the young person is coming here for support.
  • And I went to a Creating Change Conference one year.
  • Actually, some of us on staff went pretty much every year.
  • And I went to every youth workshop in the Institute
  • that I could.
  • And I met amazing young people in amazing programs
  • in other parts of North America where
  • they had stopped focusing on the support group portion.
  • And they really took a youth development, youth empowerment
  • approach.
  • And I thought, aha, that's it.
  • The support piece is just to get them in the door
  • and get them grounded enough to go out there, and do the work,
  • and do the activism.
  • Because they're so bright, and so capable,
  • and know much better than any of us
  • what needs to be told to legislators, and lawmakers,
  • and funders, and donors, and each other.
  • And so I really tried to put more and more young people
  • in charge of what are we going to talk about,
  • who are the guest speakers we should bring in,
  • we formed a youth advisory council, what do you guys want
  • to do for rec, how are we going to make this work,
  • will you give tours to the new young people.
  • And that is when the numbers started to explode.
  • The first year I was in, we were serving
  • in the neighborhood of seventy to eighty distinct youth.
  • And by the time I left a couple of years later,
  • it was almost three hundred.
  • And we're talking the span of like three, four years.
  • And they cracked me up.
  • They would crack me up.
  • Because we would have the group, and they would get so excited
  • when a new young person came.
  • Because after the group, well, we're
  • going to take you for coffee, or let's go over
  • to Outlandish in Village Gate, and we're
  • going to take you to the gay pride store.
  • And they would come back and tell me, oh, we
  • took so-and-so out and I gave them my phone number
  • so if they need me.
  • And that's exactly what I wanted to foster,
  • that they stood up and took care of each other.
  • That's what I wanted.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I want to focus a little bit more
  • on the importance of this being a safe space for them,
  • the importance that those young people walking in that door,
  • particularly for the first time, have realized
  • that this is some place I can be safe
  • and some place I can be my self.
  • PATTY HAYES: I think the issue of safe space,
  • especially ten, twelve, fifteen years ago, was so, so critical.
  • Because schools were not safe.
  • Many young people's homes were not safe.
  • And so when they came, some young people would come
  • and they would change their clothes, they would--
  • some of the youth who were genderqueer or trans,
  • they would come and they would put on makeup or they
  • would put on the clothes that they needed to where.
  • All the youth could behave and engage each other
  • in ways that felt much more authentic.
  • They didn't need to fem it up or butch it up to try and pass.
  • They could immerse themselves in a cultural context
  • that resonated with them.
  • They could get solace and inspiration from each other.
  • And they could talk confidentiality
  • about the things that they couldn't maybe even
  • talk with their best friend about if they weren't out yet.
  • And my hope was-- and it seemed that young people also got
  • the sense that outside of the support
  • groups, if the chips were down, that we would be there
  • for them, that there was more than one
  • occasion where I thought I was leaving work for the day,
  • and I get this call, "Patty, I've been kicked out,
  • I'm on the corner of this and that,
  • will you please come and get me?"
  • And the joke was the Paddywagon.
  • Because my car was forever driving people everywhere.
  • "OK, hang tight, are you safe right now?"
  • "Yeah, I'm safe.
  • I'll be in the coffee shop."
  • "All right, I'll be there in ten minutes."
  • And off we would go.
  • And I would call my partners in other agencies, the youth
  • shelters, or whoever the partner was that I needed to call.
  • I have someone, can you stay open for me.
  • I'm on my way.
  • And I think it was also important for me
  • to have a sense of safety for the parents.
  • Because for the parents who were engaged with their child
  • around their sexuality or their gender identity,
  • they so desperately loved their child.
  • But they weren't always even sure where to go.
  • There was PFLAG.
  • But some of these parents were dealing
  • with really heavy things like taking on an entire school,
  • taking on a panel of vice principals, and principals,
  • and school psychologists, and all these people who
  • are saying things about their child
  • and placing blame on the child.
  • And I needed to create a safe space for parents
  • to know that they had equal access to me as well.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I had a question and it just
  • went right out of my head.
  • It was something that you said.
  • It'll come back to me.
  • So let's jump forward a little bit
  • and talk about getting into the schools and the placement
  • and development of GSAs and that kind of thing.
  • Talk to me about being, I would say,
  • one of the more significant steps of progress
  • of getting into the schools and starting to get administrators
  • at schools taking this issue seriously.
  • PATTY HAYES: I think my strategy around schools
  • was, by any means necessary, wherever
  • there was a chink in the armor I was going for it
  • or we were going for it.
  • So I think it was a multilevel approach.
  • So sometimes, it was the young people themselves.
  • If I heard of young people through the group who
  • were trying to get activated in their schools
  • and mobilize in their schools, then I
  • would try and spend time with them,
  • support them, give them strategies, give them material,
  • troubleshoot.
  • A lot of times, it would be a school counselor, a teacher--
  • maybe out, maybe closeted.
  • Perhaps it was someone from Glisten who would say, hey,
  • I think there might be a small group of people
  • who might be ripe or trying to partner with Glisten.
  • Sometimes, I would try to capitalize on
  • if there was a problem brewing.
  • And I would make myself available to support
  • and consult on whatever the bullying or the harassment
  • incident was.
  • And I would try and not just work
  • with the school around that particular situation,
  • but then say, you know, if we did some other planning
  • or we put some other things in place,
  • we could get ahead of these things.
  • So I can think of one instance with one school district
  • where we had one or two staff people that we were having
  • some contact with who seemed like having
  • some openness to dialogue and perhaps bringing us in
  • to do some training.
  • And in the midst of these, I opened up the newspaper
  • and there's a letter to the editor talking
  • about LGBT issues and LGBT rights.
  • And it's written by a high school
  • student at this high school.
  • And I thought, bingo, that's it.
  • If I have this confident young person who's
  • willing to put their name on a letter to the newspaper
  • and I have like two or three staff members,
  • so we called up those staff people and said,
  • well, we're scheduled to come out there for a meeting.
  • Is there any way you could arrange for us
  • to meet with this young person?
  • We'd love to meet them.
  • And they managed to track him down and get him a pass
  • to get out a class.
  • And this young person was willing to meet with us.
  • And so that was the start of saying, how can we support you,
  • what's your vision like, do you have
  • other friends who might want to start a club with you?
  • Yeah, yeah I think I do.
  • Great, well, did you know this guidance counselor?
  • I wonder if you went to that guidance counselor
  • if they would be or your faculty liaison, your faculty advisor.
  • So it was super grassroots and was
  • all about relationship at the beginning, all
  • about relationship.
  • I think the mandates in the legislation and all of that
  • came later.
  • We had to get a foothold through relationship.
  • And some of the things we did later on
  • were with Empire State Pride Agenda would have
  • their annual legislative days.
  • And I remember one year I think I had an entire charter
  • bus full of youth.
  • I look back now and think, oh my God,
  • how did I have the energy to get forty young people
  • on a bus across the state?
  • And on the bus ride, I'm talking to them the whole time.
  • Here's your talking points.
  • And God love them, we would prep them weeks in advance in group.
  • And some of those young people, they would go,
  • and they would write their stories out,
  • and they practiced them about what
  • this is what my life is like in school, this is what
  • happens to me on a daily basis.
  • And they were so brave and so fierce.
  • And I never had to say anything.
  • Once we got to Albany and I let them loose
  • and gave them their schedule, and I just said,
  • you go get them, you make them listen to you.
  • And they would go and they would tell their stories again
  • and again to these legislators.
  • Because we were so desperately--
  • I look back now, and I think, I can't
  • believe we had to fight to get sexual orientation included
  • in anti-bullying bills.
  • I'm like, what was that?
  • And it was the young people who did the work.
  • And then we would get back on the bus
  • and they would regale me with their stories
  • of tragedy and triumph.
  • And I thought, this is it, we're training the next generation.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Somewhere along the line--
  • this is kind of off the record--
  • I seem to remember seeing like a news video or something of some
  • of those kids.
  • Maybe they were talking to (unintelligible) office?
  • PATTY HAYES: Could be.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Yeah, I'll have to remember to track that down.
  • I think it was probably a news clip or something.
  • PATTY HAYES: And some of the young people would get sent--
  • I mean ideally, the young people would
  • get sent to the representatives from our district.
  • But that wasn't always the case.
  • Because the way ESPA organized it was they
  • would try to send out teams.
  • Because I was always bringing such a huge contingent
  • of youth, they would often take youth from our program
  • and say, well, we need youth to go
  • to this person or that person.
  • And the youth would know that in advance-- this
  • isn't one of our legislators.
  • But they would still go in and say, yeah,
  • and I'm not from your district, but I guarantee you someone
  • like me is in your district.
  • And they were fabulous, they were amazing.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: You may have already answered this question,
  • but I'm going to throw it at you anyways.
  • Because it's the question that I had forgotten earlier.
  • Was there a particular moment or situation that happened--
  • you don't have to get into names or a lot of details--
  • that happened and it really dawned on you,
  • I'm really doing important work here?
  • PATTY HAYES: God, there's so many.
  • There are so many moments that it really
  • hit me about the magnitude of what was happening.
  • I think the trips to Albany to advocate and for youth to--
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Hold that thought.
  • We'll wait for these people to go down the hallway.
  • OK, I'm just going to back it up a little bit.
  • PATTY HAYES: I think the trips to Albany always really brought
  • it home to me.
  • Because we were in this formal legislative context.
  • And this was not like let's sit around and talk in group.
  • This was like really high powered, pressured get in there
  • with your elevator speech.
  • I think the first time we held a Break the Silence Rally--
  • so the Day of Silence was this annual day
  • that was instituted--
  • I can't remember where.
  • I want to say California, but I'm not sure
  • where it initiated--
  • where students take a vow of silence in their school.
  • And whenever they are supposed to talk,
  • they have a card that they hand friends or teachers that
  • indicates LGBT voices are silenced
  • in our school every day.
  • Therefore to bring visibility to the silence
  • that LGBT youth face, I am not speaking today.
  • And we had young people from all over different schools.
  • And the first year, I tried to coordinate
  • a more regional effort.
  • I thought, OK, so how are we going
  • to bring all these disparate schools together?
  • And I thought, oh OK, we should have a Break the Silence Rally.
  • And I think we had over one hundred young people
  • from big schools, small schools, young people who
  • had driven like thirty, forty-five, fifty minutes
  • from their school to get to this rally,
  • and have them sitting on the stage dead silent.
  • And we had made these banners.
  • And one young person walked across
  • and there was a three, and then the second one
  • and they were holding a number two, and then a number one,
  • and then a bunch of youth ran out
  • with this huge banner that said break the silence and everyone
  • started screaming and yelling.
  • And I thought, wow, every single one
  • of these hundred-plus young people engaged
  • how many teachers and how many other young people
  • in their school.
  • One of them touched how many hundreds.
  • Yeah, so there are these events.
  • And then there was, I think, the less public things
  • that really made me realize how important the work was
  • and how important the work was needed.
  • In the time that I was there--
  • sorry-- one of the young people who was quite an active youth
  • group member committed suicide.
  • And it was devastating.
  • It was devastating to me.
  • It was devastating to the adults with whom I worked.
  • Because I think we all felt like how did this
  • happen, how did this young person slip
  • through our fingers.
  • And those first days and first weeks
  • were really dark and really hard.
  • But I knew that this couldn't be a waste.
  • This young person's life couldn't be a waste.
  • Because there were other young people out there.
  • And I think that that moment in time
  • really galvanized for me why we needed to be there,
  • why the Gay Alliance needed to be there
  • why this program needed to be there,
  • why my adult volunteers needed to be there,
  • and why the youth needed to be there for each other, right?
  • And the work went on, but with this new soberness.
  • We still laughed, we still had a good time.
  • The groups happened every week.
  • Because by then, we had added groups,
  • we were partnering with MOCHA, and there
  • was all kinds of really wonderful things happening.
  • But there was a new intensity.
  • And a couple of months later, I brought the young people
  • together and I said, "OK, we've got to start planning
  • for Pride Parade.
  • And so what do you guys want to do?"
  • And I'm thinking they want to talk about floats,
  • and they want to talk about what pop music they want to use,
  • and who's going to wear which fabulous outfit,
  • and it got serious.
  • And they said, "We can't let this happen again."
  • And a planning committee got formed.
  • And they said, "This year in honor of this young person,
  • we need to do something different.
  • And we want to challenge the adults in this community
  • to step up not just for our sake, but for their sake.
  • They need to step up.
  • Because we're tired of being the only ones in our schools
  • and the only ones in our churches being out.
  • We know there's out teachers.
  • We know there's teachers and we know there's community members.
  • And they need to come out.
  • We can't be the only ones."
  • And we found a corporate sponsor.
  • I believe it was Bausch and Lomb gave us money for t-shirts.
  • And they came up with the theme Code Red.
  • Because they said this is an emergency.
  • This is a Code Red.
  • And it stood for Respect, Education, and Diversity.
  • And they wore the shirts in the parade.
  • And this was not like laughing and cheering.
  • This was like a serious thing they were doing that year.
  • And the posters they came up with
  • were things like, "We're out.
  • Why aren't you?"
  • and really confronting the adults in the community.
  • They needed to do it.
  • I needed it to happen on the tails
  • of this really terrible loss.
  • And I think for the group there was
  • a new depth to why we gathered.
  • And now when a new young person walked in,
  • I saw a level of care and a level of engagement youth
  • to youth that was even more deep and more intense.
  • Because it was real now.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: I need a quick soundbyte that puts the youth
  • program with the GAGV in the sense of "one
  • of the important programs that came out of the GAGV
  • was the youth program" kind of thing,
  • and the importance of that, just to set it up from that.
  • Because a lot of this documentary
  • as we get through it--
  • GAGV is really the common thread through so many things.
  • And so i want to make that connection.
  • PATTY HAYES: Well, I think GAGV, at that point in time,
  • was the only one who could organize and support the youth
  • programs in the way it unfolded.
  • Because the schools weren't prepared to step up.
  • Legislatively, the laws weren't in place.
  • Again, we were fighting for simple things
  • like including sexual orientation
  • in anti-bullying policies.
  • So the laws were in young people's favor at all.
  • Parents and families weren't necessarily in a position,
  • either the family was a scary, dangerous place or maybe
  • not a place where the young person could be out.
  • Or if they were out and the family was supportive,
  • the family was swimming upstream right
  • alongside the young person.
  • And again, GAGV was already established.
  • It already had a track record of doing adult programming.
  • It already had a grassroots volunteer-run youth group.
  • So there was already the seeds there.
  • And I think the youth program fit in.
  • Because there was the community education project
  • that Tanya Smolinsky was running so that when schools were
  • ready to turn a corner and make a change,
  • we already had the community education program in place.
  • And so it was a comprehensive thing
  • that we were able to provide not just to the youth,
  • but to the community as well.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: So when you look at the work that
  • was done in the previous program and the work
  • that you personally did with youth programming,
  • for future generations, how do you want history
  • to reflect upon that?
  • PATTY HAYES: Upon my work?
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Your work, the work
  • of the program in general-- what are you most proud of?
  • What is the message for future generations
  • what they should know about the work that was done?
  • PATTY HAYES: I think--
  • and I said this back then, and I say
  • this every day that I get up.
  • Because although I'm not here in Rochester anymore,
  • I still work with young people.
  • They are amazing leaders in their own right.
  • And I think what I would want the legacy
  • to be of the youth program is that it took young people
  • and helped shape and foster them not just leaders for tomorrow,
  • they're leaders right now, right?
  • That's what I want the legacy is not
  • to say like, oh, these will be great people to tap
  • for our board of directors or to tap for leadership
  • when they get out of university or when they get their job.
  • No, no, no, they're leaders right here, right now
  • with ideas, and vantage points, and knowledges, and skills
  • that the community needs right now.
  • And don't underestimate them, don't patronize them,
  • and don't sell them short.
  • You need them.
  • We need them.
  • And the ones that we work with today
  • are going to be even more spectacular tomorrow.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: We will leave it there.
  • PATTY HAYES: All right.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Thank you very much.
  • PATTY HAYES: Cool.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Probably want to get that microphone off of you.
  • PATTY HAYES: OK.
  • KEVIN INDOVINO: Just take it off.