(Photo courtesy Zebra Youth)
ORLANDO | André J. Molette, Zebra Youth’s new executive director, says he has plans to further expand Zebra Youth’s services across Orlando while also ensuring the organization’s sustainability.
Molette officially assumed the role on Feb. 23, the result of a nationwide search conducted by the organization’s board of directors. It was initiated after former executive director Heather Wilkie announced last summer that she would be stepping down.
Wilkie, who was at the helm for 13 years and added several new programs and initiatives, will assist with the transition until the end of March.
Molette brings more than a decade of nonprofit leadership experience in public health and LGBTQ+ youth services, with a strong focus on serving Black and Hispanic communities. Most recently, he served as Director of Public Programs at the Men’s Health Foundation in South Los Angeles, where he led an integrated health and wellness center focused on supporting gay Black and Hispanic communities.
Once a Zebra Youth intern, Molette says he admires the legacy left by Wilkie and plans to build on that success. He says that Zebra Youth is losing funding, and while that may be a setback, he plans on expanding on existing programs that assist young people who may not have insurance to cover the no or low-cost mental health services Zebra Youth provides.
“I’m all about the social determinants of health, making sure that people have access and don’t have barriers to the basic essentials — food, water, housing, education — and making sure that those folks are able to have those barriers lifted by stepping in the doors of Zebra,” Molette says.
He also plans to lengthen the operating hours of the organization’s drop-in center, create additional support services and facilitate cultural events for the youth.
Molette’s background also makes him very passionate about trauma-informed care, which he says is the basis for leading young people to make healthy decisions. He plans to ensure that youth coming through Zebra Youth’s doors will be given the tools to help them succeed in life while also ensuring that staff are trained well to provide that assistance.
“We are at the most vulnerable time of our lives here at Zebra and in Central Florida,” Molette says. “I think it’s really important that we center if you’re an ally, or if you’re looking for support in certain services that Zebra is that place for young folks to come and will continue to be here, and if you have questions or concerns, our doors are open.”
Molette’s extensive background in healthcare reflects a sustained commitment to building programs that center the needs of young queer people of color. At the Los Angeles LGBT Center, he developed comprehensive HIV programming for young gay men of color and created housing initiatives for transitional-age youth. At Essential Access Health, he led capacity-building efforts across a broad network of healthcare organizations throughout Los Angeles County, equipping providers to better serve underrepresented communities.
Molette says that in the wake of funding loss, he is currently looking at different opportunities to partner with organizations that haven’t yet worked with Zebra Youth, not just its long-time supporters.
“Within the community, we have our usual LGBTQ friendly suspects that we partner with,” Molette says. “But I want to go outside of that box a little bit and challenge folks that haven’t worked with Zebra in years, to re-engage them, and also to re-engage our alumni.”
Molette plans to do a community assessment to evaluate the needs of members of the community who have engaged in the organization’s activities previously. He also plans to reactivate Zebra Youth’s Youth Advisory Board, so that the young people utilizing and benefiting from the organization’s services can participate in the organization itself, ensuring their needs are being met.
“I would love to have Zebra on the youth-adult partnership spectrum,” Molette says. “There are organizations that are youth-led and ran. We’re kind of in the middle part of that, where we have folks who have experience of being a queer youth like me, and have gone up the ranks.”
Molette’s empathy and drive to care for underserved communities come from his own experience as a Black, gay child in Salt Lake City, Utah. With a firsthand understanding of intersectionality, he hopes to diversify the resources and events Zebra Youth offers and facilitates.
“I’m always about making sure that people who look like me and love like me are being seen and heard at all times,” Molette says. “Juneteenth events are coming. Latin-centric events are coming … [we are] making sure that people are able to come and have a safe place to talk about the intersectionality of being queer and a person of color.”
For more information about Zebra Youth, visit ZebraYouth.org.
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