Thank you to the committee for the privilege of speaking to you today.
You Can Play, Inc. celebrates this year its 10-year anniversary of working in this space and fighting for LGBTQ2S+ inclusion in sport. We've worked with our sport partners and pro- and amateur-level partners to help them evaluate their sports and improve their inclusion efforts. Our primary mission has been to provide a safe and welcoming space for anyone who wishes to participate in sport as an athlete, coach, referee, administrator and fan—really, in any way they'd like.
Primarily, we work with our partners on visibility and education programs, but we also know that education programs are not the sole key to solving these kinds of issues or problems. They must be part of a larger program that looks at all kinds of safety aspects within sport, as well as the education that helps people realize what they are seeing and what they are experiencing. Really, we want to make sure that we are using our partners' substantial voices to make positive change and impact within the safety and inclusion part of sport.
Diversity and equity inclusion in sport is not just the right thing to do; it makes sport better. It's more accountable. When there are more and different voices, faces and people involved in sport, people are more accountable to themselves and to a sport itself. Frankly, the teams and sports that take on this kind of work are simply better, and they're more successful.
My personal history within this space does not just include working as a coach, athlete and referee for most of my career. I also ran a safe sport program for U.S.A. Rugby for five years, developing policies and procedures, education programs and the safety and reporting side of things. The education program was just a simple first step that we saw as a key to success in these spaces. Education programs are used as a check box to say that we've done something on a subject, but that's simply not the case. It is one piece of a much larger strategy.
I want to highlight one program that I believe is doing some innovative work in this space. It's called Girls Rugby. It was developed by the same person who developed the youth rugby curriculum in Canada for PE classes. Its focus has been on the values-based empowerment of girls in sport.
Part and parcel to the practices and games is a focus on a leadership and values-based approach. The true innovation is the focus on empowering girls to find their voices and confidence and stand for themselves and their teammates, which has been a really interesting way to approach the longer-term solution to some of these things.
I know that we have immediate challenges to deal with and some history to reconcile. However, looking forward, empowering young girls to be leaders and to stand for themselves and their teammates within a sport itself has been a really interesting way to approach this.
I'm so excited to see programs like this. It gives me hope that there will be opportunities for anyone to participate in sports, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, sexuality or gender identity, and find a safe and welcoming home within sport. It's such a valuable place to be, and we want to make sure that it's there for all.
I'll wrap up there. I look forward to supporting this committee's work and its mission.