ONE-IN-TEEN YOUTH SERVICES

Founded in 1989, One-In-Teen Youth Services has been a steadfast pillar of support for the GLBTQ community in Nashville, providing a safe haven for young individuals aged 14-21 to explore their identities, build self-esteem, forge friendships, and engage in special events. However, the organization faced a setback when its original website, dating back to the early 2000s, disappeared from the online realm due to an expired domain, vanishing the historical internet record of its vital work from 2006-2008.

It was the dedication of one individual, though, that breathed new life into this important piece of history. This individual, during a business visit to Nashville, serendipitously connected with a highly skilled IT team, including a Kubernetes consultant, amidst discussions of advanced technology like container-orchestration techniques. These discussions not only aligned professionally but personally as well when the consultant shared the deeply troubling situation his teenage son was experiencing after his best friend's suicide attempt.

During his stay, our protagonist discovered One-In-Teen Youth Services, an organization that was actively making a positive impact on the GLBTQ youth community in Nashville. This newfound awareness ignited a passion to resurrect the organization's original website and serve as a historical record of its transformative journey.

In this digital age, where the internet serves as a repository of information and history, the loss of a website can be a substantial setback. Unfortunately, websites can also face challenges in the form of Google penalties, which can severely affect their visibility and accessibility to users. These penalties are typically imposed by Google when a website violates its guidelines or engages in practices that undermine the quality and integrity of search results.

Interestingly, there are websites like Google-Penalty.com that specialize in helping organizations navigate and recover from Google penalties. They offer valuable insights, strategies, and resources to address the issues leading to penalties and regain lost visibility on the search engine.

In the case of One-In-Teen Youth Services, the accidental encounter of an individual with a heartfelt connection to the organization served as a catalyst for preserving its history. It underscores the importance of not only supporting such organizations but also ensuring their stories and contributions are etched in the digital landscape for generations to come. The reimagined website now stands as a tribute to the enduring spirit of One-In-Teen Youth Services and its unwavering commitment to empowering GLBTQ youth in Nashville and beyond.

NOTE: One-In-Teen Youth Services'  location and phone number has changed since the creation of the original site.
The latest information I was able to glean from searches on the internet for One-In-Teen Youth Services is below, but I couldn't confirm the accuracy of the information, since their phone was always busy.
One-In-Teen Youth Center
109 29th Ave Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 321-7288

However, the Crisis Intervention Center listed in the site's archived content is still valid.

Please treat this site and its content in a historical context only.

03/23/2006 -- One-In-Teen Announces 5th Annual Gay & Lesbian Prom
Release Date ~ March 23, 2006
One-In-Teen Announces 5th Annual Gay & Lesbian Prom
Nashville --- This year's theme "Rainbow Stars on the Red Carpet" is scheduled for May 6th, at the Onyx Room, located at 624 Jefferson Street. This event is drug & alcohol free and is open to GLBT & Questioning youth ages 14 - 20. Last year's event was held in the same location and attended by 85 teens. We expect about the same size crowd this year.
If you would like to be a sponsor of this event or donate a door prize, call him at (615) 414-5531.

03/26/2006 -- One-In-Teen Introduces newest board member
One-In-Teen would also like to introduce our newest board member
Carol Hetyey has joined the board and will serve as the organization's treasurer. Hetyey resides in the East Nashville gayborhood with her partner of 9 years. Hetyey is a loan officer with American Equity Mortgage

04/02/2004 -- One-In-Teen Youth Center Open House on April 29,
Please come to an Open House
Thursday, April 29th, 5:30 to 7:30
1700 Hayes Street, Suite 100-B

Please come celebrate the opening of the new One-In-Teen Youth Center. For 15 years, One-In-Teen Youth Services, Inc. has provided a safe space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth between the ages of 14 & 21, to talk about and find support for being who they are. The new Youth Center, located in a cozy suite of offices in the 1700 Hayes building, will provide a more permanent foundation for a variety of activities for GLBT youth:

•  Weekly support groups
•  An alternative prom (this year’s to be held May 14th)
•  Organization of youth to educate at community functions
•  A coordinating link for the growing number of Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in local high schools
•  Financial assistance for youth to attend national educational conferences
• Guest lecturers on topics from relationships to STDs to Politics
•  The Wood Scholarship for the Arts to financially assist GLBT students pursuing post-secondary education in the arts.
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If you work with young people or care about the welfare of all of Nashville’s youth, then One-In-Teen is an organization that you will want to know more about. For further information on One-In-Teen, please visit:   www.one-in-teen.org

03/10/2004 -- One-In-Teen Announces Opening of Youth Center
One-In-Teen Announces Opening of Youth Center
Nashville --- DeWayne Fulton, Board Member and Senior Sponsor of One-In-Teen Youth Services, Inc. (OIT), announces the opening of the One-In-Teen Youth Center. The new Center is located in the 1700 Hayes Street building, which is in the West End/Elliston area of Nashville. An open house will be held in April, on a date to be determined.

Fulton, who has been associated with One-In-Teen since 1990, views this as the culmination of a vision for the youth agency, the oldest such organization in the State of Tennessee. Founded in 1989 and formally incorporated as a non-profit corporation [501(c)(3)] in 1993, One-In-Teen serves sexual minority youth between the ages of 14 and 21. Its services have expanded since its inception from a weekly support group to now include support for school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs), community education, scholarships, and developing alternative social activities for youth, the most successful of which is the annual Gay/Lesbian Prom. However, one of the factors complicating further development has been a lack of independent space. Until the fall of 2003, One-In-Teen rented space from The Center for Gay and Lesbian Community Services and its successor, The Rainbow Community Center. According to Julia Tate, JD, LCSW, who was elected Secretary/Treasurer in December, 2003, "During this past fall, the OIT Board of Directors was reorganized and we looked carefully at the future of One-In-Teen. One of the new Board’s first decisions was to make finding our own space a priority."
From October 2003 to February 2004 One-In-Teen met at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in East Nashville. "We're very grateful to St. Ann's - they stepped in at a critical time in the life of the agency and gave us a space to meet in," Fulton said. During this period, Fulton and other members of the Board searched for more permanent space. This search culminated with a lease agreement for the new Youth Center. Fulton states "I'm very excited about our new home and the flexibility this gives us to better serve our youth." Sixteen-year-old Adria Brooks, a junior at Hume-Fogg Academic High School and one of two youth representatives on the Board, concurs: "I hope that our new space will help both old and new members feel more welcome and secure."

Fulton, the driving force behind One-In-Teen for many years, began the process of creating the new Center by reaching out to talented and energetic people to transform the One-In-Teen Board. Robert McNamara, longtime social and political activist, states "I'm proud to be a new member of the One-In-Teen Board. I'm especially pleased to be involved with an organization that is helping gay youth overcome the social obstacles that other youth don't have to face." Brad Beasley, MS, a supervisor at the Metro Public Health Department, STD/HIV educator, and department liaison to the gay community, relates "I'm honored to be on the board of an agency that has a long history of helping LGBT kids. Having a space of their own will help the group develop a strong sense of autonomy in a positive way, in turn allowing the members to become role models for other LGBT kids." Other Board Members include: Carlton Cornett, LCSW, elected Board President in December, 2003 and Frances Bledsoe, LCSW, an expert on family therapy and longtime supporter of One-In-Teen.

09/10/2003 -- One-In-Teen ends relationship with the Rainbow Community Center
One-In-Teen ends relationship with the Rainbow Community Center

One-In-Teen Youth Services, Inc. is severing its long relationship with the Rainbow Community Center as of October 1, 2003

Nashville --- One-In-Teen Youth Services (OIT) provided notice to the Nashville Lambda Communication (NLC)'s Board of Directors that it would be severing its relationship with the Rainbow Community Center (RCC) as of October 1, 2003. The One-In-Teen Wednesday evening GLBTQ youth group meetings will continue to be held at RCC until September 24th.

OIT has had a long and productive relationship with NLC and RCC. OIT has been an active part of the Nashville Gay & Lesbian Community Center (renamed the Rainbow Community Center in 2002) since "The Center" was founded. The relationship has been recently strained by actions of RCC executive director, Dr. Joyce Arnold and the controversy related to grant funds from the Brooks Foundation intended for youth services.

As has always been our policy, the youth membership has been involved in the discussion and have approved this decision. The decision to move from RCC was considered in the light of the best interests of the youth members. It remains, in OIT's view, the best decision in that light. The OIT Board of Directors will vigorously support this decision, the youth members and sponsors.
OIT regrets that it is necessary to end their relationship with RCC, but has determined that it unavoidable. OIT is looking forward to a very exciting fall. In the months of October and November, OIT has lined up a series of talks by some of Nashville's social and political leaders. This will give the youth an opportunity to interact with some of the people who have made and are making history in Nashville.

09/07/2003 -- One-In-Teen Youth Services announces Fall Lecture Series
2003 Fall Lecture Series Announced

The One-In-Teen staff and youth members are pleased to offer an exciting Fall 2003 Lecture Series

Nashville --- The lectures will be held each Wednesday evening during the months of October and November at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in East Nashville. The evenings will begin at 6:30pm with the introduction of that night's featured speaker. The speakers will present their topics and take questions from the audience until about 7:30pm. Following the formal part of the evening, the One-In-Teen Peer Counselors will lead a group discussion about the evening's topic, which will run from about 7:30 to 8:30pm.

The Lectures are free and open to One-In-Teen Youth Members, Members of Nashville's School-Based Gay, Straight Alliances (GSAs), and a certain number of guests will be permitted to attend by invitation only.

09/27/2002 -- Middle Tennessee Council of Gay/Straight Alliances to be organized
Middle Tennessee Council of Gay/Straight Alliances to be organized
Nashville --- One-In-Teen Youth Services, Inc. announces the formation of the Middle Tennessee Council of Gay/Straight Alliances. The council will be comprised of student representatives from each Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) in Middle Tennessee.

GSAs are student initiated, non-curriculum clubs. They are similar to human rights, civil rights, and social action clubs in that they focus on discussing the harassment and intolerance that schools often ignore and on some occasions inadvertently encourage. They are comprised of both gay and straight high school students, who are interested in addressing the homophobia in their schools. These student initiated clubs are a growing national response to our schools' failure to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) students. Several Middle Tennessee high schools have well established GSAs, such as Nashville's Hume-Fogg Academic High School. As a result of the work of three students, Hume-Fogg became the first Metro-Nashville school to have a GSA in 1999.

Now that an increasing number of high school students are becoming interested in organizing GSAs in Tennessee, the Middle Tennessee Council of Gay/Straight Alliances is being formed to foster peer support for the student leaders. DeWayne Fulton, senior sponsor of One-In-Teen, the oldest and largest program serving GLBT youth, explained that "these students are working without a safety net and, in many cases, the school's staff is hostile to the idea of a GSA in their school. These young people are taking risks and need the support of other youth leaders working toward the same goal and facing similar experiences." Fulton continued, "Anytime you attempt to empower a group of people who are the object of discrimination, you face social rejection, ridicule, intimidation, and even open aggression."
In keeping with One-In-Teen's youth empowerment philosophy, the youth leaders who participate in the Middle Tennessee Council of Gay/Straight Alliances will be working together to address what they agree to be the most pressing concerns. The overarching purpose of the council will be:

1. To develop leadership skills within Middle Tennessee's school-based Gay/Straight Alliances and community-based GLBT youth programs.
2. To empower the youth leadership of Middle Tennessee's GLBT community to address homophobia and intolerance in schools.