Be a part of the COLAGE Family Week Volunteer Staff Team!
Apply Today!
COLAGE is currently seeking fabulous adults with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer parents to join us for an incredible week at this year’s Family Week in Provincetown, MA July 25th- August 1st, 2014!
To apply: Fill out the below application and back ground check consent form and submit it no later than Monday, March 2nd, 2015 by emailing it to Robin Marquis, Program Director at in either a word document or PDF. Please only submit a handwritten application if you have legible handwriting.
About COLAGE
COLAGE unites people with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer parents into a network of peers and supports them as they nurture and empower each other to be skilled, self-confident, and just leaders on our collective communities. Living in a world that treats our families differently can be isolating or challenging. By connecting us with peers who share our experience, COLAGE helps us become strong advocates for ourselves and our families. To learn more please visit our website at www.colage.org, email Robin Marquis at or call (206) 549-2054.
FAQ’s
What is Family Week?
During this week, hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) parented families spend a week in Provincetown, MA. The COLAGE daily program includes recreational activities, workshops, creative expression activities, leadership development, and youth empowerment that allow participants to gain confidence and pride, make new friends, express themselves creatively, and have a lot of fun while connecting in enduring ways to community of other youth. The COLAGE Family Week staff is an enthusiastic team of adults who share the experience of having an LGBTQ parent. We create a fun and safe environment for all of our youth participants. In 2014, 165 youth ages 8-18 and 30 adult volunteers participated in the COLAGE Family Week program creating a vibrant community of people unlike any other.
Why volunteer?
Volunteering your time on the COLAGE Family Week Staff is an incredible opportunity to work with fantastic youth, develop friendships with fellow adults, gain leadership experience, social justice facilitation skills, and learn to be a strong advocate for ourselves and our families. Participating in Family Week as staff will connect you to this network of adults that will, in all, likelihood, become a second family. You will also have the chance to affect the lives an amazing group of youth. You will have the unique opportunity to connect with other adults with LGBTQ parents who are a part of the team. Although the week is very intense in terms of your time and energy, you will also be enjoying the queer friendly vacation atmosphere of Ptown, a beautiful beach community on the Cape.
What does it mean to be on the Family Week Staff?
The COLAGE Family Week Staff team works together to provide social, educational, and community building activities for youth ages 8 and up. COLAGE activities are offered for three groups of youth with LGBTQ parents: COLAGE Camp for 3rd-5th graders, the COLAGE Middle School Program, and the COLAGE High School Program.
We expect that Family Week volunteers commit to a very busy week with daily meetings, facilitation, trainings, and staff support. Most roles require starting the day by 9am with our morning programming and often we wrap up the days into the evenings after checking in, planning for the next sessions, and processing that day’s activities. In addition to your work with youth during our programming, you may be asked to help with parent/adult workshops, events, and other activities that week. The total time commitment for our volunteer staff is from 7 PM Friday, July 24th to 10 AM Saturday, August 1st. Please give yourself plenty of travel time and check ferry schedules before purchasing airline, train, or other transport to ensure that you can start and end on time for the week.
Before the week begins, you must commit to being available for four conference calls beginning in April and read and respond to frequent emails sent out by Robin Marquis and other staff. Family Week staff are also encouraged to help develop workshops and contribute to activity planning. If you are not responding to emails and missing our phone calls, we will have to terminate your time as a volunteer.
Who can apply? To be a part of the COLAGE Family Week Staff you must either be 18 or have finished high school by July 26th, 2015 and have (or had) one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/ or queer parent/guardian(s). We seek to build a diverse and dynamic team of 25+ adults that reflects the youth we work with. People of color, male identified folks, trans folks, and folks with a transgender parent(s), are highly encouraged to apply.
What is the time commitment expected?
We prefer that all staff arrive in Provincetown, MA by 7 PM Friday, July 24th for staff orientation/training and to stay through 10 AM on Saturday, August 1st. If you can not arrive on Friday evening, you must notify Robin at the time of your application and arrive no later than 10 AM on Saturday, July 25th. Please be aware, this is a commitment to early mornings and long days. As staff, you may be required to attend meetings as early as 7 AM and as late as 10 PM. This experience is a lot of work, and is uniquely rewarding.
What should I budget for? COLAGE volunteers are given the option of free communal COLAGE housing and basic meals, but you will need to budget for your travel costs. You may also choose to stay with your family or friends on your own. If you have the option of housing with your family or friends, we encourage you to do so as the staff houses are generally quite full. Volunteers are responsible for making their own travel arrangements to and from Family Week. Access to Provincetown is limited and most volunteers take the ferry together which costs about $90 round trip.
Parking in Provincetown is very limited so be aware that if you drive you may need to pay for parking while in town. COLAGE has a limited amount of financial aid to support travel expenses for volunteers who find the travel costs prohibitive.
If you have any questions, please contact Robin Marquis at or (206) 549-2054.
Family Week Volunteer Application 2015
Applications are due Monday, March 1st, 2015
Your Name: ______Date of Birth: ______
Preferred Gender Pronouns: She/her, He/him, They/their, Ze/per, Other:______
Current Address:
______
Street Address City State Zip Code
Phone Number: ______
Email address:______
Demographic Information: We ask that you share your demographic information so we can further serve our staff as well as accurately apply for funding. The answers to these questions are optional and confidential.
Race and Ethnicity- check all that apply
❏ African-American/Black/Caribbean/African descent
❏ Arab/Iranian descent
❏ Asian/South Asian/Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander descent
❏ European/Caucasian/White descent
❏ Latina/o/Chicana/o/Hispanic descent
❏ Multi-Racial/Multi-Ethnic/Mixed Heritage/Bi-Racial
❏ Not listed above (please specify) ______
Gender Identity-check all that apply
❏ Women (including trans and intersex)
❏ Men (including trans and intersex)
❏ Trans/Gender Queer/Gender Non-Conforming/Two Spirit
❏ Intersex
❏ Not listed above (please specify) ______
Sexual Orientation-check all that apply
❏ Bisexual
❏ Lesbian
❏ Gay (male)
❏ Queer
❏ Pansexual
❏ Asexual
❏ Straight
❏ Not listed above (please specify) ______
I have one or more-check all that apply
❏ Bisexual parent(s)
❏ Transgender parent(s)
❏ Genderqueer parent(s)
❏ Straight parent(s)
❏ Queer parent(s)
❏ Lesbian parent(s)
❏ Gay (male) parent(s)
❏ Not listed above (please specify)______
My family was created through-check all that apply
❏ Adoption
❏ Fost/Adopt
❏ Transracial adoption
❏ Transnational adoption
❏ 2nd parent adoption
❏ Foster Care
❏ Donor Insemination
❏ Surrogacy
❏ A parent coming out
❏ Grandparent or other LGBTQ familial guardian
❏ Not listed above (please specify)______
Do you identify as someone with a disability?
❏ No
❏ Yes
Is there anything we can do to support you during your time as a staff person? We will do everything we can to make Family Week accessible for you, just let us know! You can also talk to us later as you feel more comfortable. ______
Do you identify as low income/poor?
❏ No
❏ Yes- We have minimal funds to support travel costs for our low income staff. Please let us know if you would like to talk about what we have available.
Further Questions:
Have you attended Family Week before?
❏ Yes, as a participant (approximately how many years)______
❏ Yes, as staff, (list years you have worked as staff):______
❏ No, this is my first time at Family Week!
I am available from Friday, July 24th to Saturday, August 1st for Family Week in Provincetown. Note any anticipated conflicts or reasons why you would miss a portion of this week but still want to be considered for staff: YES NO
Preferred Age Group: Staff are assigned to one age group with whom they will predominantly work throughout the week. Please rank with the numbers 1-3 your first, second and third choices. COLAGE will do our best to accommodate your preferences. *If you just finished High School or are 18, you are not eligible to work as a High School facilitator.
___ No preference
___ Camp (3rd-5th graders)
___ Middle School (6th-8th graders)
___ High School (9th-12th graders)
Do you plan to stay in one of the COLAGE Staff Houses? Please circle yes ONLY if you do not have housing already available to you. We rely on having at least 6 staff members stay with their families.
YES NO NOT SURE
Do you have First Aid and CPR certification current through August 1st, 2015? YES NO
If not, will you renew/ make it current before July 24th, 2014? YES NO
Application Questions for New Volunteers: The answers to these questions are very important for us to get to know you so please take your time in thinking about and writing your responses. We have a competitive application process and we want to get to know you as best we can.
1.Why do you want to be on the volunteer Family Week Staff with COLAGE?
2.What is something you hope to gain from your experience as a volunteer?
3.Do you have any areas where you feel challenged? We ask so we can support you.
4.Share any experience you have working with youth.
5.Share any experience you have working in fast paced and demanding environment.
6.Share any experience or knowledge (personal or learned) you have with racial justice, disability justice and transgender justice. If one or more of these areas are new to you, don’t fret! We will provide you with educational materials prior to Family Week.
5.Staff members with disabilities, staff members with trans parents, trans staff members and male staff members of color make up a smaller part of our staff community. What are ways you can be an ally to those identities that you don’t hold yourself? If you hold any of these identities and want to share, what is something you want from our community to make our staff team a safer place for you?
7.Please share with us any skills that you have or are interested in gaining (workshops you could facilitate, activities you could teach, fundraising experience, other special skills you could contribute)
Application Questions for Returning Volunteers: The answers to these questions are very important for us to determine who will join us at Family Week. Please take your time in thinking about and writing your responses. As you know, we have a competitive application process and your commitment to reading and responding to these questions are incredibly important.
1.What was something that challenged you last year and what are your thoughts on how you would handle this differently?
2.Did you manage to practice good self care during your time at Family Week? What are things that worked for you in managing stress and what is one area you would focus on this year.
3.How did you handle conflict with other staff members last year either personally or as a support to other staff.
4. What is a moment that you saw either yourself or a youth impacted by COLAGE?
5.Male staff members of color, staff members with disabilities, staff members with trans parents, and trans/genderqueer staff members make up a smaller part of our staff community. What are ways you will act in allyship to people who hold these identities? If you hold any of these identities and want to share, what is something you want from our community to make our staff team a safer place for you?
6.Please share with us any skills that you have or are interested in gaining (workshops you could facilitate, activities you could teach, fundraising experience, other special skills you could contribute)
7.Are you are interested in being a co-coordinator, housing coordinator or intern?
References: If you have not previously served as staff at a Family Week, please send the reference form to two references and have them email the filled out form to Robin Marquis at . Below, include their full name, email and phone number. Returning staff do NOT need to submit references:
Name of Reference:
Name:
Email:
Phone Number:
Relationship to Applicant:
Name of Reference:
Email:
Phone Number:
Relationship to Applicant:
Background Check: COLAGE performs background checks on all volunteers working with youth.Along with your application, you must fill out the background check consent form at the end of this form. *Please note: COLAGE encourages people who were formerly convicted to be active in their community.
Certification
A. I certify that the information I have presented in this application form and any attachments is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
B. I agree to notify COLAGE immediately of any changes that 1) makes any information presented on this application form or attachments no longer true and correct, and/or 2) makes me ineligible or unavailable to volunteer.