Rally! Season 3, Issue 5: February 2024

February is Black History Month

February is Black History Month. Remember the history of lived experiences of Black Americans and the origins of this annual observance. Examine the intersectional movements that began with organized resistance and led to civil rights advancements for Black Americans and for LGBTQ+ people, voters, and workers. Celebrate the contributions of Black and African-American people to the fields of art, entrepreneurship, and health and wellness. And gaze forward to the future by surveying today’s Black Queer Youth. The Human Rights Campaign 2024 Black LGBTQ+ Youth Report exposes solemn statistics about experiences of racism, homophobia and transphobia within Black LGBTQ+ youth communities. But the data also, as noted by HRC Senior Press Secretary Jarred Keller, demonstrate how “Black LGBTQ+ youth are finding the confidence to own their space by opening up to loved ones about their sexuality…[coming] out to their teachers and other school staff, exemplifying the growth needed to ensure Black queer youth know they are valued.” “Our hope,” says Charleigh Flohr, Associate Director of Public Education & Research at the HRC Foundation, “is this report will provide insight on how allies can provide a safe and affirming space for Black LGBTQ+ youth to live in their truth.” 
 

Take a look at what some PCA Member Teams are sharing this Black History Month:

Cheer New York on Black Businesses: Facebook | Instagram

CHEER Seattle on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: Facebook | Instagram

Sacramento Cheer Elite celebrates on Facebook

Happy Birthday PCA!

PCA’s official date of incorporation was LEAP DAY, February 29, 2016! That means this year we can celebrate our 2nd birthday-on-the-actual-day and we’re turning 8 years old! This milestone has inspired the PCA Board and PCA Brand Team to leap into several new opportunities to elevate our standards and advance charitable cheerleading as a whole! The theme unifying it all is: “Connect the Dots.” The first gift we will share with you is our new animated logo created by @aqeel8 from logo design by Chris Williams (2022). Dote on these dots with us!

Each issue of Season 3, we are releasing another one of the FACES of PCA video interviews by David Smith. David is a videographer and sports psychologist, and a dear friend to PCA who sees us from the inside out. He promises to one day be a performing volunCHEERleader, too, but we couldn’t possibly love him any more than just for who he already is. David has provided a platform for our cheerleaders to express how PCA has contributed to their identity, their journey, their sense of belonging, and their mental and physical fitness. Watch these personal stories and you will appreciate the tangible benefits of exercise, sport, philanthropy, and community that we’ve experienced through adult cheerleading.

February FACES of PCA video: It’s Beau Bradley! 

In this interview, Beau Bradley (they/he) (bio) describes the PCA experience as trying something new, coming back to something you love, and developing a space where “everyone can find a home.” The word “home” has so many nuances of relevance to PCA. Let’s talk about physical homes and housing: Last month PCA revealed its $6,000 donation to its Sin City Classic 2024 beneficiary, Golden Rainbow, a nonprofit serving people with HIV/AIDS in Southern Nevada that provides emergency housing for individuals who find themselves suddenly homeless and permanent housing placement for those who need it most. Now let’s talk about our figurative homes, where we create structures to serve needs. Beau Bradley has a new figurative home with the PCA Board as its newest Director!

Welcome to the PCA Board, Beau, and welcome home!

February’s Featured Partner Organization is Virtual SportPsych (VSP) (virtualsportpsych.com), to which we became connected through none other than sports psychology expert, author, journalist, and Ph.D. candidate David Smith. VSP was created to “help growth-minded sport psychology professionals from all around the world to learn, improve and reflect upon the services they deliver to their athletes and teams.” The benefits and gifts exchanged between PCA and VSP are mutual! David’s PCA experience appears frequently in the workshops and education sessions he hosts for VSP. And David’s VSP experience, resource networks, and sport psychology counseling services were beneficial for PCA volunCHEERleaders at Gay Games Guadalajara 2023 and Sin City Classic 2024.

A few individual PCA volunCHEERleaders in related professional fields have provided topic-specific videos for VSP online educational events in the past! Do YOU have a sport psychology or related professional background? If you do, and you have a topic to present, or an interest in getting a free membership into the VSP+ community, reach out to David: david@virtualsportpsych.com. Plus, David has offered anybody from the PCA family who wants to attend the Virtual Applied Sport Psych Summit (VASPS) (an online event every fall) a “nice discount!”

Every year since 2021, PCA has surveyed its Member Team volunteers to learn more about who we are. The survey includes questions about identities and involvement. It is an opportunity for people within our organization to voluntarily provide PCA with information that helps us understand our present level of diversity and also to set goals toward becoming the broadly representative and fully inclusive organization we aim to be. Ask your Member Team Delegate or any member of the PCA Equity and Inclusion Committee for the link today! Survey closes March 31, 2024.

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