Alison Delpercio
Senior Director of Training and Learning Design
She/Her
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Next Level Program
Next Level is a 20-hour (10 week) course on job readiness, financial health and wellness created by the HRC Foundation and delivered to LGBTQ+ folks in partnership with local community-based organizations (CBOs).
The Next Level course provides skills-based education and resources to LGBTQ+ young adults focused on navigating biased employment and financial systems and gaining increased economic stability. The course centers the experiences and needs of LGBTQ+ adults aged 18-30 years old, with a specific focus on Black and Brown and trans and non-binary job seekers.
The course includes the following three pillars of content, all delivered through a self-empowerment and critical consciousness lens:
| Job Readiness | Financial Health | Wellness |
|---|---|---|
| Job searching | Spending | Physical |
| Applying | Saving | Mental/Emotional |
| Interviewing | Borrowing | Spiritual |
| Succeeding on the job | Planning | Communal |
Course instruction is delivered by the HRC Foundation; with both synchronous (weekly classes delivered via Zoom) and asynchronous components (delivered through financial wellness digital platform WorthIt).
Learn More About Next Level
Want to learn more about the Next Level course and future opportunities to bring it to your community? Complete the short form below to receive program updates.
Next Level Pilot Sites
Next Level is being piloted by two sites from August 2023 to March 2024.
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center is one of the pilot sites for the Next Level program. Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Bradbury-Sullivan provides a vibrant, inclusive space for all of the region's LGBTQ+ residents.
The center produces affirming community programming and addresses barriers to care through their LGBTQ+ health programs. Bradbury-Sullivan organizes their region’s annual Pride festival and makes the Lehigh Valley more equitable through their LGBTQ+ Education Institute.
The MOCHA Center at Trillium Health
Founded in 1996 as the Men of Color Health Awareness Project, The MOCHA Center of Rochester, New York, has worked to educate Black and Latino men about living a sex-positive life.
Now in partnership with Trillium Health, they’ve turned into a community health center that offers both community and health in equal amounts—providing a safe place for LGBTQ+ folks to network, socialize, and address any health issues they face.
FAQs
We’re glad you’re interested in participating! The program is currently being piloted in partnership with CBOs in two areas: Allentown, PA and Rochester, NY. The HRC Foundation hopes to expand access to the course in future years after the pilot. Be sure to sign up for updates.
In the meantime, you may find these resources helpful as you pursue your employment and financial goals:
We’d love to partner with you! After the pilot is completed, the HRC Foundation will be looking for opportunities to expand access to the course to additional communities. Sign up for updates today.
Have a more specific or time-sensitive request for information? Reach out to the team at nextlevel@hrc.org .
WORTHIT
The HRC Foundation has created WorthIt, a digital financial wellness platform that inspires and motivates LGBTQ+ folks to improve their financial health & well-being.
Next Level Team
HRC Foundation Team
Maruka Rivers
Deputy Director of Workforce Development Programs
She/Her
Darnell Green
Senior Manager of Workforce Development Programs
He/Him
Gwen Carleton
Training Initiatives Manager
They/Them
Lead Facilitator
Nia Clark
Next Level Lead Facilitator & Program Consultant
She/Her
Nia Clark (she/her) has spent over 16 years changing systems from within as a consultant, trainer, direct service provider, researcher and LGBTQ+ youth advocate. Nia is the Lead Facilitator for the Next Level course and has been consulting with the HRC Foundation throughout the course creation process. She worked for over 8 years as a direct care counselor and Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) trainer at The Home for Little Wanderers, one of the nation's oldest youth-serving agencies.
From 2015-2017 Nia was the Mentoring Coordinator at LifeWorks, the youth development and mentoring program at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, where she was responsible for overseeing nearly 50 active one-to-one matches between LGBTQ+ youth and adults each year. In 2016, she was the consulting producer of the Emmy-nominated MTV documentary, TRANSFORMATION, a film featuring herself and six trans & gender-diverse youth. Nia is currently an Expert Trainer for the Human Rights Campaign’s All Children – All Families Project, an initiative that helps child welfare agencies achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for queer youth in foster care.
She additionally works as a National LGBTQ+ Mentoring Coach for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America to assist them in providing more inclusive mentoring services and resources to queer youth and mentors across the U.S. As an expert advisory board member and external investigator for the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she assists with multiple research projects aimed at reducing substance use and adversities among gender and sexual minority youth. She was also a contributing author to Oxford University's recent textbook publication Social work practice with the LGBTQ community: The intersection of history, health, mental health and policy factors (2nd ed.).
As an activist for Black trans women and foster youth, Nia is regularly sought after for various speaking engagements, panels, and local & national conferences. She is additionally a record-breaking three-time Point Foundation Scholar and obtained her master's degree in Social Work from Simmons University in 2021.
Councils
The HRC Foundation’s Next Level program is supported by the work of our Advisory Council and Community Council. These council members play an active role in program design by informing curriculum development, supporting program implementation and advising the HRC Foundation on strategies to maximize programmatic impact. One of the councils’ first priorities was creating a set of guiding principles for the program. These principles are listed below and are at the center of program operations.
Next Level’s current roster of council members includes community members and organizational leaders from across the United States including representatives from LGBTQ+ centers, for-profit businesses and local governments.
Equity, Inclusion, Intersectionality
This program must foster success across intersectional identities, radically welcoming all experiences and be built on queer joy and liberation.
Centering Community
This program should be built with the community it intends to reach, honoring lived experience and wisdom.
Cultural Responsiveness
This program should be culturally and linguistically relevant and address the context of participants’ experiences with workforce and economic institutions.
Individualized / Tailored
This program must be adaptable to participants’ experiences and flexible in its approach.
Strong Design
This program must be strengths-based, trauma-informed, and take a human-centered design approach.
Evidence-Based / Outcomes-Impact Focused
This project’s evaluation must be culturally responsive and focused on outcomes and impact.
Blake Allison - LifeCents (Washington, DC)
Jazzmun Crayton - APAIT (Los Angeles, CA)
Tiersa Curry - Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center (Allentown, PA)
Jako Douglas-Borren - Brooklyn Community Pride Center (Brooklyn, NY)
Veronica Barrios Garcia - Pridelines (Miami, FL)
Elise Hernanez - SAGE (Chicago, IL)
Jonathan Lykes - Liberation House (Atlanta, GA)
Dr. Tamarah Moss - Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, PA)
Jessie Pocock - Inside Out Youth Services (Colorado Springs, CO)
Mya Power - Power Safe Place Resource Center of Virginia (Front Royal, VA)
Luis Quiñones - UnidosUS (Washington, DC)
Cy Richardson - National Urban League (New York, NY)
Quincey Roberts, Sr. - City of Boston (Boston, MA)
Sarah Rosso - Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation (Pittsburgh, PA)
Dr. Héctor Torres - Colibri Counseling (Chicago, IL)
Ruben Bermudez (Gaithersburg, MD)
Nephi Bigby (Atlanta, GA)
Ashley Garcia (San Francisco, CA)
Monique Griffin (Eugene, OR)
Andrea Montanez (Orlando, FL)
Mejour Mook (Seattle, WA)
CJ Moseley (Atlanta, GA)
Vanessa Warri (Los Angeles, CA)
Trinitee Wilson (Philadelphia, PA)
Tatyana Woodard (Philadelphia, PA)
Have further questions? Reach out to our team: nextlevel@hrc.org
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