Under My Umbrella

LGBTQ+ community is seen and celebrated as the strong, loving, and diverse force that it is
LGBTQ+ teens reflect on their belongingness and sense of community, and explore the ways that their community can lift them up and vice versa
Non-LGBTQ+ teens reflect on the joy, love, or positivity an LGBTQ+ person has brought to their lives and build appreciation for the community

LGBTQ+ teens need to feel the strength and joy of their community, and allies can learn to view the LGBTQ+ community as a positive force in everyone’s life

Whole school

Principal
Counseling department
GSA or other LGBTQ+ club at your school (partner up with them!)

Set up a table in a visible area in the school
- Consider using lunch periods to reach all of the students in your school
Ideally, the table will be in front of a large bulletin board or wall that you can tape papers to
At the top of the board/display wall, write the following prompt or tape up papers with prompt written on it, large enough that folks will be able to tell that it’s the title/prompt for all responses

- How has the LGBTQ+ “Umbrella” Community protected, embraced, or uplifted you?

Plan to have at least one OMM member at the table at all times to explain the campaign and hand out and collect supplies
When folks, students or staff, come up to the table, hand them a marker and an umbrella sheet and explain the following:
- “There’s so many people who identify as belonging under the LGBTQ+ Umbrella. Umbrellas protect us from storms, and community does the same. On this sheet, respond to the following prompt:
  - How has the LGBTQ+ “Umbrella” Community protected, embraced, or uplifted you?
Once they’ve finished, collect their umbrella and thank them for participating. Remind them to keep an eye out for the finished project and let them know where in the school it will be
After all lunch periods (or one full day of tabling elsewhere in the school), use your club meeting time to hang these up around the school OR create a larger umbrella mural/bulletin board
- If you want it to be in the shape of an umbrella, consider asking an art student to draw an outline on your wall or bulletin board!
- You could also just hang up all the umbrellas in another shape, or just fill a bulletin board with them
Consider writing a message or title for the finished product so folks know what they’re looking at when they pass by. Here’s some ideas:
- “Without the LGBTQ+ Umbrella, we would all be facing storms with a lot less warmth, love, and pride”
- “There’s so many people who identify as belonging under the LGBTQ+ Umbrella. Umbrellas protect us from storms, and community does the same. Check out how our school community has been impacted”
We encourage you to leave a few resources by the bulletin board, including the resource cards that were included in the OMM Kit you received! If you don’t have access to those, you can simply provide:
- Appointment slips for your school’s counseling office
- National hotlines
  - Call 988 to reach the Suicide Prevention Hotline 24/7
  - Call 866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678 for 24/7 support from the Trevor Project

Share the details of this campaign on your school’s morning announcements, news show, calendar, or newsletter
- To make folks more excited and make the campaign even more impactful, you could even read off uplifting LGBTQ+ history facts or current events to build up to the main event.
  - Check out this little LGBTQ+ facts sheet from DoSomething.org for a few examples
Consider having OMM reps go around and share about this campaign briefly during homeroom
During the actual campaign, have OMM reps go up to lunch tables to encourage them to participate, hand out umbrella sheets in homerooms and advisory periods and collect them at the end to add to the collection, and just try to get as many folks as possible to participate!

Count the number of umbrellas–that’s an easy way to see how many people directly participated in your campaign! If you get even 10 umbrellas, that’s a win <3
Did you notice students stopping to ask about the campaign, or pausing to read the umbrellas? Those are signs of success for sure
Was there any additional conversation at your school about LGBTQ+ mental health, Pride, or just the community in general? Your campaign probably had a lot to do with inspiring more conversations!
Bonus: Take a picture of the final umbrella mural and send it to OMM so that we can feature them in the Latest & Greatest!!
Complete the brief eval form after the completion of the campaign!