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Our History
In it's brief history, OUT for Work has already experieneced a rich path of development.
Click a year below to discover more.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
September 2004
Riley Folds, Founder of Diversity Change Agents (DCA), finishes reading “The Lavender Road to Success” by Kirk Snyder. He begins to question if he has lived up to his fullest professional potential. At the time, Riley is closeted in the workplace.
October 2004
Riley Folds comes out professionally and begins writing a program description for a conference that would focus on preparing LGBTA undergraduate students for the workplace. The program would be called the LGBTA leadership and Career Fair.
November/December 2004
DCA begins to solicit feedback on the program description from LGBTA advocacy groups including HRC and NGLCC. Riley connects with Justin Nelson, Co-Founder of NGLCC, who encourages him to move forward and introduces Riley to organizations that have LGBT inclusive policies.
Spring 2005
DCA begins to meet with for profit organizations to co-sponsor the program and LGBT student groups to participate in the program. Citigroup and Sodexho are the first for-profits to sign on.
Summer 2005
Justin Nelson invites DCA to NGLCC’s annual awards dinner. DCA connects with IBM at the dinner. As a result, IBM signs up to be the Presenting Sponsor of the student conference. The conference gets a name change; OUT for Work.
October 8-9, 2005
OUT for Work: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Ally Leadership and Career Fair takes place at The Human Rights Campaign Headquarters and the Beacon Hotel. Sponsors/Partners included DCA, IBM, Accenture, Sodexho, Fannie Mae, The Paxton Companies, Chipotle, HRC, NGLCC, GayLife, The DC Office of GLBT Affairs, Citigroup, Staples, Starbucks, WOMO, The Advocate, Burgundy Crescent Volunteers, AT&T, PEN, The Center, and GLLU. Over 30 exhibitors take part in the PRIDE Career Fair. Seventy students participate in the conference.
November 2005
Evaluations of the ’05 program and planning/fundraising for the 2006 OUT for Work Conference begins. The overall program receives 5 out of 5 on the evaluations completed by participants and sponsors. It is decided that the ’06 program will offer breakout sessions, an awards reception, reach out to more schools, and open the PRIDE Career Fair to the public.
April 2006
OUT for Work participates in Youth Pride Day in WashingtonDC.
May 2006
OUT for Work participates in SundayOUT at the Equality Forum in Philadelphia, PA.
June 2006
OUT for Work participates in PRIDE events in DC and Maryland
October 14-16, 2006
OUT for Work presents at the Out&Equal Summit in Chicago on the topic of recruiting LGBT undergraduates.
October 21-22, 2006
The 2nd Annual OUT for Work Conference takes place at The Human Rights Campaign Headquarters and the Doubletree Hotel. Sponsors/Partners include DCA, IBM, PwC, Accenture, Mellon, AOL, Sodexho, Fannie Mae, Out&Equal, Victory Fund, Coventry, Lambda Legal, The Paxton Companies, GenderPAC, Chipotle, HRC, NGLCC, GayLife, Sirius Satellite Radio, Safeway, Sevicemembers Legal Defense Network, and the DC Office of GLBT Affairs. Over 50 exhibitors take part in the PRIDE Career Fair. Clay Lee, candidate on the reality TV show, The Apprentice, accepts the OUTstanding Individual Award for being the 1 st openly gay Apprentice candidate at the awards ceremony. One hundred and six students register for the conference and over 300 people attend the PRIDE Career Fair.
November 2006
Evaluation of the ’06 program and planning/fundraising for the 2007 OUT for Work Conference begins. The overall program receives 4.55 on a 1-5 scale from evaluations completed by participants and sponsors. Changes for the ’07 conference include offering sponsors year-round activities to be involved in, reaching out to more schools, holding the conference entirely at a host hotel, and setting the date to coincide with the Out&Equal Summit taking place in DC.
November 8-12, 2006
OUT for Work participates in the Creating Change Conference in Kansas City.
February 16-18, 2007
OUT for Work presents a panel discussion at Alphabetsoup2007, The Midwest LGBTA College Conference. Panelists include representatives from the sponsors of OUT for Work.
March 5, 2007
OUT for Work presents a panel discussion at PennState’s Spring Career Fair Days. Panelists include representatives from the sponsors of OUT for Work.
March 22, 2007
OUT for Work attends American University’s Career Fair
April 19, 2007
OUT for Work participates in Youth Pride Day in Washington, DC
May 5, 2007
OUT for Work organizes “OUT and open in the workplace: Real life and legal rights” at Equality Forum in Philadelphia, PA.
June 2007
DC & Baltimore Pride events
September 28, 2007
Presented at Out&Equal Summit on LGBT college recruiting
September 29-30, 2007
Organized the 3rd Annual OUT for Work Conference in Washington, DC. Over 200 participants attended. Over 500 job seekers attended The Pride Career Fair.
February 6-10, 2008
OUT for Work tables at the Creating Change Conference in Detroit Michigan
February 22-24, 2008
OUT for Work presents a panel discussion at MBLGTACC08, The Midwest LGBTA College Conference at the University of Urbana Champaign. Panelists include representatives from the partners of OUT for Work.
April 11-13, 2008
OUT for Work presents a panel discussion at Northeast LGBT Conference at University of Albany. Panelists include representatives from the partners of OUT for Work.
May 4, 2008
OUT for Work tables at SundayOUT! Equality Forum in Philadelphia, PA.
June 2008
DC, Baltimore, and New York Pride events
September 10-13, 2008
Presented at Out&Equal Summit, Austin Texas
September 26-28, 2008
Organized the 4th Annual OUT for Work Conference in Washington, DC. Over 250 participants attended. Over 700 job seekers attended The Pride Career Fair.
January 28 – February 1, 2009
OUT for Work tables at the Creating Change Conference in Denver, Colorado.
February 13 - 15, 2009
OUT for Work presents a panel discussion at MBLGTACC09, The Midwest LGBTA College Conference at the Indiana University Bloomington. Panelists include representatives from the partners of OUT for Work.
March 29 - 30, 2009
OUT for Work tables at the ACPA Annual Convention at the National Harbor.
April 17 - 19, 2009
OUT for Work hosts the 1st Ever West Coast LGBTQ & Ally Student Career Conference at the University of California, Los Angeles. Speakers include Nick Verreos, Kirk Snyder, Donna Rose, James Ryder, and Chris Saldana.
April 27 – May 3, 2009
OUT for Work attends the Equality Forum in Philadelphia, PA.
June, 2009
DC, Baltimore, and New York Pride events.
September 25 - 27, 2009
OUT for Work hosts the 5th National LGBTQ & Ally Student Career Conference in Washington, D.C. Speakers include John Berry, Donna Rose, Peggy Burns, and Rashad Robinson. Over 400 participants attended.
October 6 - 8, 2009
OUT for Work tables at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit in Orlando, Florida.
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