{"id":29888,"date":"2024-01-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/four-corners-rainbow-youth-center-bids-farewell-to-co-founder-after-eight-years\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:06:01","slug":"four-corners-rainbow-youth-center-bids-farewell-to-co-founder-after-eight-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/four-corners-rainbow-youth-center-bids-farewell-to-co-founder-after-eight-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center bids farewell to co-founder after eight years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer Stucka-Benally, seen here on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, left their role as co-founder and co-director of Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center on New Year\u2019s Eve. Co-Director Xander Hughes will be Stucka-Benally\u2019s successor in the organization, which provides services for LGBTQ+ youths. (Matt Hollinshead\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center has been a bastion for LGBTQ+ youth since it was founded in 2015. It\u2019s grown to accommodate about 200 families annually through a variety of programs and events curated to support, educate and embolden queer youths.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Stucka-Benally, co-founder and co-director of the organization in Durango, said the idea for the center came about during the 2014-15 school year when students at Durango High School approached them about the lack of services for the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

At the time, Stucka-Benally was a behavioral health provider at DHS\u2019 school-based health center. They noticed just as students had that Durango lacked resources for gay, lesbian, transgender and other gender nonconforming adolescents, who can be vulnerable targets of bullying, harassment and isolation without outside help.<\/p>\n

They started holding focus groups after school on Mondays, where students could hang out with peers who had similar experiences, celebrate their identities and navigate the hard things about their identities, Stucka-Benally said.<\/p>\n

What started as a small volunteer effort has since blossomed into a full-fledged nonprofit that opens its doors to children, young adults and families across the Four Corners.<\/p>\n

But like the center itself, Stucka-Benally has come a long way since 2015. They are changing their life\u2019s course and stepping down as director, entrusting a legacy of compassion and understanding to a new guard.<\/p>\n

Co-Director Xander Hughes will become the sole directing officer of the Rainbow Youth Center, which is bringing on an assistant director to help keep things moving.<\/p>\n

Stucka-Benally, whose last day was New Year\u2019s Eve, accepted a job at Catacombs Fitness where they will continue to support people\u2019s health and well-being, just in a different capacity.<\/p>\n

The move is bittersweet, they said. It\u2019s difficult to put into words.<\/p>\n

Tirzah Camacho, a volunteer at the Rainbow Youth Center, said Stucka-Benally played a pivotal part in jump-starting conversations about social justice in Durango by addressing intersectionality at the center.<\/p>\n

Merriam-Webster\u2019s Dictionary defines intersectionality as \u201cthe complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism and classism) combine, overlap or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not seeing a lot here yet, like justice work on a scale that links people and marginalized entities together in a way that makes sense and that\u2019s always made sense,\u201d Camacho said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s new for this area \u2013 to be thinking about justice work at all, let alone to be thinking about it as it relates to other forcibly marginalized groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said queerness doesn\u2019t exist in a silo, and education about the LGBTQ+ community had always been at the forefront of Stucka-Benally\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard time in the world,\u201d Camacho said. \u201cThey\u2019ve taken some hits. It\u2019s a hard role to hold in a rural region on top of a small, tight-knit community. There\u2019s all kinds of social care that\u2019s required.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer Stucka-Benally plays a card game called \u201cDixit\u201d with two Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center participants on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023. (Matt Hollinshead\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
A sense of place and community<\/div>\n

During their tenure at the Rainbow Youth Center, Stucka-Benally held patience when faced with threats against the center, Camacho said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that we have saved lives because (youth) have told us,\u201d Stucka-Benally said. \u201cTime after time again, we\u2019ve had youth come to us and say if it wasn\u2019t for RYC, if it wasn\u2019t for the healthy connections they were able to develop with friends and with healthy LGBT adults, that they might have followed through with completing suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the Rainbow Youth Center came along, many bullied youths weren\u2019t socializing with friends or doing extracurricular activities after school. Instead, they were isolating themselves from others.<\/p>\n

The Rainbow Youth Center is a place where children can \u201cjust let go, be themselves,\u201d and have fun while \u201cgrowing and learning as a person and making those really healthy connections,\u201d Stucka-Benally said.<\/p>\n

The center includes families in programs and events as well. Strong family bonds can \u201cmake or break\u201d a young person\u2019s fortitude, and the stronger families are in a community, the stronger a community becomes overall, they said.<\/p>\n

The center\u2019s impact has had a ripple effect across Durango, they said. They\u2019ve seen more community support for the LGBTQ+ crowd than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot more visibility and awareness around the fact that LGBT people do live here and that they\u2019re human and they have all the same needs we do,\u201d they said. \u201cI do feel like (there\u2019s more awareness) even though we still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camacho, whose daughter participated in programs at the Rainbow Youth Center, said the center also has programs for parents and caregivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been part of those groups over many years. It changed my life, too, in a number of ways,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially (with) just having an organic, parent-driven crisis response. We\u2019ve all shown up for each other and each other\u2019s children many times over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things have changed for the better in Durango for the LGBTQ+ community, but it still faces oppression nationwide, Stucka-Benally said. From corrosive politics to schoolyard bullying, adversity takes a heavy toll on the minds of queer youths, at times amounting to psychological stress, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

Stucka-Benally said their message to LGBTQ+ youths is \u201cYou are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their 20 years of social work, they said they\u2019ve learned most people believe in basic human rights, and opposition to LGBTQ+ rights comes from a \u201creally, really, really loud\u201d vocal minority.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they have power. Yes, they\u2019re loud. Yes, of course it\u2019s going to have an impact on you,\u201d they said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to feel awful to have people try to take your rights away and say really negative things about you.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow that you\u2019re not alone,\u201d they said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be in (this) together.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said power lies in numbers, and homophobes, transphobes and bigots don\u2019t have a majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to rise up,\u201d they said. \u201cWe have not been in a race up to this point. Multiple times in history this has happened and we are still here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camacho said one\u2019s sense of self affects every other part of his, her or their life. Just having a safe place to visit or someone to call is \u201cpivotal to just thriving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it helps somebody eat that day, if it helps somebody sleep better that night, having a place to go, everybody needs that,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd these kids in particular need that because there aren\u2019t places for them to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camacho said a get-together celebrating Stucka-Benally\u2019s role will be held at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 20. The Rainbow Youth Center\u2019s social media feeds will announce details and a community participation invite soon.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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