Facilitator
As a Facilitator with BELONG Partners, Lex Gavin (they/them) partners with adults to create dignified and connected spaces for young people. They are passionate about reimagining our education and communities, and are fueled by their conviction that a just, liberated world is possible.
Lex has more than a decade of experience designing and facilitating social justice content in the youth development field, beginning with their own organizing and education work with Stonewall Youth’s Speaker’s Bureau and Queer Youth Space. Lex has worked in homeless youth services, youth mental health services with a focus on suicide prevention, and crisis services with survivors of violence. Most recently, they worked at School’s Out Washington and provided professional development and capacity building to adults in the field. This included guiding a cohort of more than 30 youth-serving organizations through a 4 year program quality improvement process in the inaugural King County Best Starts for Kids Out-of-School Time initiative, and co-designing an expanded suite of racial justice and cultural responsiveness trainings. Lex volunteers as a mentor with the Service Board, and provides training and technical assistance for those seeking to provide better support for trans and gender non-conforming youth.
What are people most surprised to learn about you?
I’m kind of a jock! I love to ride my bike, weightlift, snowboard, rollerskate, dance, hike, swim… there’s even an alternate timeline where I got a soccer scholarship to play goalie. I’ve lost my some of the requisite fearlessness, and now stick to playing midfield.
What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
A lot of things bring me joy: visual art, playing music, thrift shopping, cooking, gardening, looking at trees, looking at the sky, looking at bodies of water, my dog Moo, and ugly-laughing with my people.
What drew you to BELONG Partners?
It’s really exciting to work with a team that honors the vital connections between SEL skills, somatics, relational learning, and racial and social justice. Not only do we speak the same language, but I feel the commitment. How we support adults to support youth keeps me connected to feelings of awe and hope—how could I not be drawn in?