Summer 2025

You don't feel like you have to change yourself or be really loud to be seen.--Kiley, 2024 Participant

In college I attended a queer synagogue as part of a anthropology course. It was a joyful community of queer older adults who sought pure acceptance and community from each other. The rabbi would end each session by saying "May you be who you are, and to your children, may you be who you say you are." 

Years later these words resound in my head as I see the young people at The Octavia Project grow into the adults they hoped to become, supported by caring and thoughtful adults. I have worked with many youth-serving organizations in NYC and beyond. The Octavia Project stands out as a organization that is able to use science fiction as a lens to explore a multitude of things from art to science to urban planning. The Octavia Project is where young people discover who they've always wanted to be. 

This marks my 9th year as part of the The Octavia Project's advisory board and my first as its advisory board chair. Last year I even got to join a day of the incredible summer camp and support OP youth with a STEM-focused quilting project. We sang HOTTOGO while discussing noise pollution across NYC. I don't know about you but that was the perfect summer day for me. 

This spring, I'm on a mission to raise $700 to fuel this amazing program. Your donation will help provide a space for artistic scientific exploration and equip these future leaders with the tools they need to thrive. $700 will support two weeks of healthy lunches and metro cards for OP participants.

The ability to create a whole other universe is something that is so valuable and so powerful and it's something that everybody needs to have. So that even if they're not happy with where they are now, at least they know that there's somewhere else that they can turn to, just for a little bit, to relax and enjoy, feel safe and feel comfortable because that is something that everybody deserves to have.--Yuni, 2024 Participant