Loose

Gail's initial reaction to the promotion of working in partnership with young people as a best practice, a trend that began to gain steam in the early to mid 1990's, was one of caution. Her concern for young people evoked a protective response, wanting to ensure that they remained focus on healing themselves and their families. But that same concern for young people made two realities impossible for her to ignore. The first was the growing body of evidence that partnering with young people resulted in development that was healing, and the second was her own core belief in each young person's inherent worth and value. This allowed her to see not only the benefits to young people from a partnership approach, but to realize that she and other adult staff, as well as the agency itself, would be positively impacted by seeing young people as partners to be included rather than problems to be solved. Through her open mind, love of learning, and genuine concern and respect for young people, Gail avoided becoming an immovable object, and instead became an irresistible force.

In 1998 Gail founded the Tumbleweed Youth Advisory Group and continues to be an adult supporter of the group's efforts to this day. The group has become an integral advisory body to the management of the agency as well as a sponsor of events designed to nurture and highlight the talent and potential of the young people involved in Tumbleweed programs. A few examples of the projects that have been developed through the Advisory Group include:

} A photo exhibit depicting 'life on the street' consisting of pictures taken by street youth

} An art exhibit of paintings created by youth and hosted in a Scottsdale Art Gallery
} Four annual 'TumbleFests' bring together youth, families, staff, and community for a day of celebration, food, games and fun
} Community service activities including trail building, visiting with seniors in nursing homes and assisting at food banks, to name a few

But the Advisory Group was only the beginning. Gail acted as the Adult member of Youth/Adult learning teams sponsored by Western State Youth Services Network for two years before transitioning her spot to another adult partner, allowing someone else to experience the opportunity. By 2000 Gail set her sights on full incorporation of Youth Development through youth/adult partnership into the agency culture and arranged for specific, agency-wide training for staff and youth at Tumbleweed. This commitment to implementing partnership as an operating principle culminated in a 2002 week-long intensive consultation at Tumbleweed's transitional living program for older homeless youth, the result of which was a transformation of the program into a true youth/adult governance model. Today the program is governed by a youth/adult council, with every member having equal influence and equal voice.

Maintaining integrity to such a structure requires constant diligence and training as both internal and external forces resist the idea that youth are capable decision makers. It is extraordinarily beneficial to that integrity if there is a person with the knowledge, vision, and passion to support the commitment to continuation of including youth as partners. Gail has proven to be an inexhaustible reservoir of that knowledge, vision, and passion.

Partnership with youth has become such a 'given' with Gail that as she works to address issues she challenges others both within Tumbleweed and in the Phoenix community to see youth as a part of the solution. An example can be seen in the several years Gail has spent advocating for a shelter focusing on the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning youth. Currently the project is moving forward with the support of Dick Geasland, Tumbleweed's Executive Director, Tumbleweed's Board of the Directors, and a wide range of community interests including the Arizona Human Rights Foundation. Through Gail's unwavering persistence, young people who identify as LGBTQ are, of course, at the table, and their efforts are helping to make the program a reality in the near future.
For this, and for all of her past commitment to the realization of the potential of youth/adult partnership … and for having the vision and passion to be that 'irresistible force' that makes partnership happen … in4y.com is honored to recognize Gail Loose with our April 2007 PartnerswithYouth Award.

It's been over 30 years since a young adult walked into a group home in Chicago to start her new job as a direct care provider. In those days, working in partnership with young people was not a part of her training or orientation, or even a standard of care that was being discussed. She discovered, however, that she had a natural ability to connect with young people on a human level, and that she was of greater service to them through relationship than she was through 'supervision'.

This discovery helped developed her core belief that every young person has value and is able to contribute. Today, 30 years and 1800 miles from that first group home in Chicago, Gail Loose is the Program Director for Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development in Phoenix, Arizona, and she maintains this belief as the core operating principle of her on-going work with young people.

Gail began her career at Tumbleweed as a Youth Care Worker in the agency's only shelter/group home. Her vision and her passion for young people in challenging situations has been a driving force in Tumbleweed's development into a multi-service agency with ten programs working with youth who come with various labels including runaway, homeless, street dependent, abused, delinquent and immigrant. And, through it all, Gail is able to see each individual young person, not as the label they bring but as the greatness that is within.