Cassie Blume

Former Director, LGBTQ Youth Space

2019 BAYMEC Service Awardee

Cassie Blume’s nearly 12-year career of serving LGBTQ youth in Santa Clara County began in October 2006 when she started overseeing the DeFrank Youth Program. Two years later, under the auspices of Family & Children Services, she oversaw the creation of the LGBTQ Youth Space and built it into a thriving center that provides critical resources and support services for our community’s youth, their families and their schools.

In addition to the founding of the Youth Space, some of Cassie’s most notable accomplishments include:

• In 2016, when the Youth Space was in danger of losing nearly half of all of its contract funding, Cassie rallied the community and political allies, which resulted in the Board of Supervisors voting to approve funding to help cover those losses for five years.

• She built the Youth Space’s LGBTQ Wellness program from the ground up.

• Cassie collaborated with members of the County Probation Department to train the entire department on how to better support LGBTQ individuals impacted by the justice system.

• In her years at the Youth Space, she worked in close partnership with their Director of Grants & Partnerships to secure countless grants and funding opportunities.  These funds have enabled programming in the arts (such as their youth Comedy Sports team and their drag programming), the establishment of a weekly mental health and support group for young adults, and the expansion of their Youth Speakers Bureau.

The Youth Space, and all of the contributions it has made and will continue to make, would not be if it were not for Cassie.  Its strength as an organization, the meaningful and immeasurable difference it has made in the lives of youth throughout our county, are her legacy. 

For these reasons, we selected Cassie as the 2018 recipient of the BAYMEC Service Award.