Nonprofit empowers LGBTQ+ youth
One n Ten helps people grow into their identities
One n Ten’s mission is simple: empower LGBTQ+ youth and young adults and help cultivate a world where they are accepted and loved for who they are.
The nonprofit provides housing for homeless youth, life skills training, educational programs, youth centers, a summer camp and a community in Phoenix.
One n Ten served nearly 1,200 youth and young adults in 2019 and have continued to serve youth online through the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Gina Read, program manager of One n Ten. The Arizona Republic spoke with four who help show the positive impact One n Ten has on the community.
One n Ten is supported by The Republic and azcentral.com’s annual holiday giving campaign, Season for Sharing.
Becoming Kainoa: One n Ten helps teen find their identity
Kainoa Nonnemacher had given up on going to camp. What was usually the highlight of someone’s childhood had contributed to their trauma: For years they had to repress their gender and sexuality to try to fit in and be accepted.
“It was a very suffocating environment if it wasn’t made for you,” Nonnemacher said. Church camps “were a large part of me hating myself, of me just hating everything I was inside and out and wanting to change everything I was.”
But after reading “Becoming Nicole” by Amy Ellis Nutt, that changed. Nonnemacher was inspired to look for camps for LGBTQ+ youth, and that’s when they found One n Ten’s Camp Outdoors in summer 2019.
It was the first time Nonnemacher felt empowered to use they/them pronouns — the pronouns that matched their nonbinary gender. Seeing so many people accept one another for their humanness was life-changing, the 15-year-old said, because that’s not always the case.
“I was so far away from home, but I never felt more at home than when I was with those people,” they said. Nonnemacher is from Dallas and traveled to the northern Arizona camp.
Nonnemacher remembered being confused that the counselor felt the need to apologize after calling them “girly” and the counselor told them they deserved to be treated with respect and to not be called anything they are uncomfortable with.
This moment stuck with Nonnemacher, and it’s what ultimately empowered them to come out as nonbinary outside of Camp Outdoors a year later.
With an incredible support system through their mom, friends and One n Ten peers, Nonnemacher plans to continue advocating for their rights and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community on One n Ten’s Youth Advisory Council.
“Now I know I do deserve that respect. I deserve to be treated like a human being,” they said.
When Nonnemacher was choosing their name, they wanted to honor their Native Hawaiian heritage while also embodying their own journey. Kainoa, which they said means both “namesake” and “sea of freedom,” was perfect.
‘I would not be having these opportunities if it weren’t for One n Ten’
“When you have someone who understands you at the charge of an organization, they can make the organization more accepting and better for who you are.”
Jakob Hassett
A member of One n Ten’s Youth Advisory Council
One n Ten has not only given Robbie Cabral a place to belong, but it has given him opportunities he did not think would be possible as a gay and autistic man.
The 24-year-old moved to Goodyear from Chicago in 2017. He said he felt lost and alone, and was yearning to meet friends like him.
He found One n Ten while looking for LGBTQ+ groups in the Valley and attended a few meetings before going to Camp Outdoors. It opened a new world for him.
Cabral sits on the Youth Advisory Council for the organization and works with the nonprofit’s marketing team. He also helps lead a neurodiversity group within One n Ten to connect LGBTQ+ youth and young adults on the autism spectrum or who have ADHD, anxiety or other disabilities.
“I think back to my 16-year-old self who could benefit from something like this,” Cabral said. “I know there are youth that are involved in these things, that go to One n Ten. And just having a space where they feel like they’re seen, they don’t have to hide, they can talk about these things and hopefully, go through school a little bit better than I felt that I had to go through.”
When he was in high school, Cabral said he joined as many clubs, leadership groups and Advanced Placement and honors classes as he could to try to hide that he was autistic. He said he remembers feeling embarrassed when he and his parents would go to meetings about his Individual Education Plan.
But at One n Ten, he doesn’t have to hide.
He didn’t expect to speak when he attended a meeting between One n Ten and the Arizona Coyotes. But before the meeting wrapped up, he was asked.
“I was like, ‘Robbie, if you do not say something, you are gonna regret this, like, you open up your mouth.’ It was so frightening,” he said. “But sitting in that meeting and being given the opportunity to speak, it’s gotta be one of the highlights I’ve had this past year with One n Ten.”
He said that meeting solidified his belief in himself that he could pursue a marketing career and be successful. He used to see his disability as a hindrance, but he doesn’t anymore.
“I’m a 24-year-old, autistic, young adult that happens to be gay,” said Cabral. “I would not be having these opportunities if it weren’t for One n Ten giving me them.”
Cabral and other One n Ten members on the cusp of aging out are working to create an alumni group to stay involved with the nonprofit.
The community One n Ten has built for Cabral is incredible, and he wants to help it continue.
Even on Zoom, Camp Outdoors opens hearts and minds
Camp Outdoors 2020 was actually indoors — on Zoom — due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was just as empowering, said Landis Swapper.
It was Swapper’s first camp with One n Ten, and certainly not their last. The online format also made it more accessible for Swapper, who is immunocompromised, has multiple disabilities and sometimes uses a wheelchair.
At 21, they said they were experiencing a quarter-life crisis of sorts — they were questioning their gender identity and sexual orientation. But throughout the virtual camp people shared their stories and experiences, and every story was unique and beautiful.
“It clicked in my mind and it made me realize that there’s absolutely no wrong way to be queer. And so you’re valid no matter what,” Swapper said.
Their first One n Ten workshop was on toxic gender roles and norms, and Swapper has continued to seek out education from the nonprofit ever since. Education about the LGBTQ+ community is important, they said, because people in the community may not have the language to know how to recognize their identity.
This was the case for Swapper. They discovered the word “nonbinary” when they were 19 and have been able to navigate their identity successfully with the help of One n Ten. Now, Swapper knows they are transmasc-nonbinary, meaning they lean towards expressing themselves in a masculine way but don’t identify with being a male.
“You don’t know about it if you don’t learn it,” Swapper said.
“It clicked in my mind and it made me realize that there’s absolutely no wrong way to be queer. And so you’re valid no matter what.”
Landis Swapper
Who attended a virtual camp organized by One n Ten
‘Change is best made from the inside’
Jakob Hassett attended One n Ten meetings before they came out, partly because they didn’t know what they would be coming out as. They thought they were gay, but discovered they were actually panromantic, meaning they are attracted romantically to people regardless of their gender identity.
The nonprofit also helped them discover they’re polygender, meaning they experience many genders either simultaneously or separately. They said One n Ten’s trans and nonbinary retreat was empowering because it proved they weren’t alone in their identities, struggles and successes.
Hassett said one of the most impactful parts about One n Ten is that it is a nonprofit for LGBTQ+ people, led by LGBTQ+ people. They said it’s easier to find support from LGBTQ+ mentors because they understand them and the struggles they go through.
“When you have someone who understands you at the charge of an organization, they can make the organization more accepting and better for who you are,” said Hassett.
Since they came out, Hassett has used what they have learned in One n Ten and put it into advocacy and activism.
Veritas Preparatory Academy, their high school, leans conservative and was criticized for transphobic bathroom policies in September, so Hassett speaks out against their school and often uses assignments to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, such as giving a speech on influential LGBTQ+ activist Barbara Gittings.
They currently serve on One n Ten’s Youth Advisory Council, and they plan to bring what they’ve learned at the organization with them when they leave for the Navy.
“I believe change is best made from the inside,” they said. “Being in these positions, I am where I can try to make the change, so why not make it?”