GSA Network

National Association Agency Agreement Renewal


Mission

GSA Network is a next-generation LGBTQ racial and gender justice organization that empowers and trains queer, trans and allied youth leaders to advocate, organize, and mobilize an intersectional movement for safer schools and healthier communities. 

In 2005, GSA Network invited allied organizations to participate in a national network that continues to build the movement of trans and queer youth leaders and allies to claim safer spaces in their school communities and to build power for youth led advocacy. Today, Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network has expanded its national network to include local organizations in over 41 different states throughout the US and territories. The strength of our national network relies on the strength of our local partners. All members of our network are autonomous, bound together in a collective vision for LGBTQ youth empowerment and liberation. 

Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network Theory of Change

GSA Network operates with a theory of change that locates the local and most vulnerable at the center.  We believe local climate change (GSAs) impact local social change, which impact policy and broader social change.

To build power for TQ2S+ (trans, queer, Two-Spirit) youth at a local, state, and national level, we first build a network of GSAs and base of active TQ2S+ youth leaders and their allies.  We then train a cadre of young people to educate and train other youth in their schools and local communities. Finally, we bring together these youth voices with the power to advocate for TQ2S+ rights and achieve policy change.  GSA clubs, led by GSA Network trained leaders, hold schools accountable to ensure that policies are being followed and change realized. 

This theory extends to our national model of working in which we believe that in order to build sustainable change it must start and end within our local communities and must be intertwined with racial and gender justice work that seeks to empower trans, queer, and gender expansive youth of color.  As a national organization we work to support the base building and social change capacity of our member groups.

GSA’s 4 Justice Principles of our Movement - Uniting for Racial and Gender Justice

GSA Network adopted a new tagline on April 20th 2016: trans and queer youth uniting for racial and gender justice. In order to build a deeper more transformative GSA movement we need organizations affiliated with the national work to agree to and apply these values on justice locally in order to be aligned with our national platform of work.

Organizations that join the National Association of GSA Networks agree to the following basic principles around creating an TQ2S+ youth movement for racial and gender justice:

Racial Justice

We need to have a critical analysis of how structures in this country uphold white supremacy and we need to know how to challenge all of those.

  • Access to quality education for ALL TQ2S+ youth
  •  An end to the school-to-prison pipeline
  • Dismantling the system of mass incarceration that builds profit off the ongoing suffering of people of color, poor people, and global communities
  • Stop the mass detention and deportation of migrant communities
  • Stop the state-sanctioned genocide of black and brown people by law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and mass incarceration
  • Stop the state-sanctioned genocide of trans women of color
  • Actively support the leadership development of Trans and Queer Youth of Color

Gender Justice

Racial Justice is a crucial element of Gender Justice and we have to develop strategies that address the ways that white supremacy impacts our Gender Justice work.

  • Support schools that ensure school clubs, bathrooms, and all school facilities allow all students to feel free, supported, and able to live as their authentic selves free from all forms of discrimination
  • Implement comprehensive and medically accurate sexual health education nationally that educates youth and adults on sexualities and genders
  • Support youth-led peer-to-peer health and sexual education on sexuality and gender
  • Create support systems that youth develop to provide social/emotional support for trans and gender non-conforming young people
  • Promote and participate in girls' and women of color initiatives
  • Ensure that boys and men of color initiatives dismantle toxic forms of masculinity and include resources to support the lives of all genders not just boys and men of color
  • Actively support the leadership development of Trans and gender non-conforming youth

*As a national organization, we do not know what all of these principles will look like in every community and would work with partner organizations to help define them while also keeping alignment to our principles and theory of change.

Membership Benefits and Technical Assistance

GSA Network is dedicated to strengthening local organizations' and organizers' work and capacity to serve trans and queer youth. Drawing on and adapting the models, curriculum, and lessons learned from the GSA Network of California as well as the extensive expertise of our members, we provide our organizational partners with a broad range of ongoing training and technical assistance. GSA Network will also work with local partners to develop new curricula, programs, and models that better fit the communities our partner organizations and we work with. 

Each member organization of the National Association is actively working with local GSA youth leaders and should join the National Association to enhance the work they are already doing with trans and queer youth of color. 

GSA Network works to secure our own funding to provide regional organizing training, capacity building, and technical assistance so that our staff may work alongside member organizations to: 

  • Strengthen and/or develop a citywide, regional, or statewide “GSA Network” organization or program, specifically a program that provides leadership training and empowerment to TQ2S+ youth through working with “GSA clubs”
  • Build the GSA movement by connecting their local work to other state-based networks
  • Shape GSA Network’s overall strategy in schools and communities
  • Support the ongoing development and training of GSA Network’s National Youth Council
  • Provide additional training opportunities to local partners
  • Define and develop national campaigns as determined by members and the National Youth Council
  • Participate in GSA Network National Association monthly staff and youth calls
  • Participation in GSA Network’s National Gathering is not mandatory, though scholarships (when available) will be given to member organizations that demonstrated consistent ongoing participation in GSA Network’s national work throughout the year
  • Member participation on the local and the national level will be supported by GSA Network National staff
  • Members of the National Association will receive a website re-direct to their organizational website (example: www.gsanetwork.org/state)
  • National GSA Registration -member organization staff will be able to use the customized CiviCRM database system developed by GSA Network to register and access data to registered clubs in their state. Member organizations will also receive a link to share with GSAs to register in the National Directory
  • Priority Invitations to National Gathering and/or Regional Convenings
  • Invitations to additional training and leadership development opportunities
  • Work in partnership with TQ2S+ youth leaders
  • Support TQ2S+ youth-led clubs -GSA clubs and/or similar school-based student groups or community groups of high school aged youth
  • Be supporting GSAs or TQ2S+ student clubs at citywide, regional (countywide or more than one city) or statewide level
  • Have Part-Time or Full-Time staff dedicated to the GSA / TQ2S+ youth organizing project *GSA Network will work in conjunction with organizations that do not currently have paid staff to find grants, projects, and programs to meet these criteria.
  • Commitment to building equity, justice, and liberation for TQ2S+ youth
  • Commitment to building regional and national leadership for TQ2S+ youth
  • Commitment to working to support the leadership of Trans and Queer Youth of Color (TQYOC)
  • Ability and willingness to engage in regional and/or national convenings
  • Ability and willingness to participate in regional and/or national campaigns

Current Requirements for Requirements for National Association of GSA Networks Membership

Requirements will be updated based on the agreement of the current membership to ensure alignment, cohesion, and equity 

  • Participation in National Association Conference Calls, including attending the majority, or 80%, of scheduled bi-monthly National Association calls. Participation may also include the following: proposing and facilitating skill-shares with membership; proposing and facilitating workshops for National Gathering; and working with other member states in your region 
  • Participation in one of the association committees, such as NAGN Membership or National Gathering Planning Committee 
  • Support for local youth leaders’ national leadership on National Youth Council and TRUTH Council (where applicable, and if youth are selected to serve on the National Youth Council) 
  • Support local youth leaders’ participation in regional and national convenings. 

By signing below, my organization agrees to the membership criteria and requirements for the National Association of GSA Networks outlined above.  The dedicated staff member working with GSA/TQ2S+ (trans, queer, Two-Spirit) youth organizing projects and the Executive Director or Board Member of the Organization must complete this agreement.  

I understand that GSA Network will revoke user access to the National GSA database in the event of any changes to employment or position within the organization. And that it is my responsibility to notify GSA Network of any such changes within one week to ensure the security and safety of the database. 

I also understand that this Member Affiliation Agreement lasts up to 3 years.  

Organization Information

Please confirm the following information regarding your organization:

  • Organization Name – listed publicly:  
  • Website URL – listed publicly:  
  • City & State – listed publicly:  

For Internal Use Only

  • Mailing Address:
  • Physical or Street Address (if different from above):  

CiviCRM Database User Access

Organization Name:  

Date: April 25, 2024

All CiviCRM Database Users are required to sign Individual User Agreements prior to receiving login credentials. Signers may choose up to three users for their organization, including the Lead Staff Member and two additional staff members. All existing users, not listed on this form, will be deactivated and their database access revoked. 

Lead Staff Person:

Name:  

Role/Title:   

Email:   

Phone Number:   

Executive Director or Board Member:

  • Name:  
  • Role/Title:   
  • Email:   
  •  

Additional Staff Person:

  • Name:  
  • Role/Title:   
  • Email:   

Leave this empty:

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Signature Certificate
Document name: National Association Agency Agreement Renewal
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Timestamp Audit
February 18, 2021 1:08 pm PDTNational Association Agency Agreement Renewal Uploaded by Anna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org IP 73.237.210.173
February 18, 2021 2:10 pm PDTAnna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org added by Anna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org as a CC'd Recipient Ip: 2601:c7:4200:7080:bd68:7cd0:8b0f:cfcb
April 13, 2023 10:10 am PDTAnna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org added by Anna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org as a CC'd Recipient Ip: 73.237.210.173
April 13, 2023 10:10 am PDTAnna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org added by Anna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org as a CC'd Recipient Ip: 73.237.210.173
April 13, 2023 10:13 am PDTAnna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org added by Anna Davis - adavis@gsanetwork.org as a CC'd Recipient Ip: 73.237.210.173
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