and now we're going to turn it over to alan acosta. >> they didn't tell us the hardest part of this would be getting in and out of the chairs. well, thank you for this opportunity to talk to you today. i'm here to talk about project spin, suicide prevention and intervention now, which is a collaboration among the l.a. gay and lesbian center to end suicidal ideation and reduce homophobia in the l.a. unified schools. just some quick basics. the l.a. center is the largest lgbt organization in the world. 320 staff, a budget of over $60 million, 300,000 client visits a year. we do a wide range of medical and mental health services for our clients who could not afford to get them otherwise. the l.a. unified school district, second largest in the country, 665,000 students more or less, more than a thousand schools. and they've also been a pioneer in addressing issues that face lgbtq kids. and many, many years ago started project ten which was a project for lgbt kids within the schools. i won't spend much time on these statistics because robert mcgarry did a great job yesterday in his presentatio

. >> alan acosta, the director for strategic initiative at the center.ger of state advocacy and grassroots outreach for a recommendation prevention. [applause] >> and finally michel compress outreach director for the center of innovative public health research. [applause] >> and i think she still getting my to up. so i encourage you to go and read their bios but with this we want to give enough time for going to present and have as many questions as we possibly can to please her know to write on this questions and we will take them. thank you very much. and with that i would turn it over to alex. >> good morning to all of you. and i wanted to thank the department of education, department of health and human services for the invitation to coming to talk with you today. what i'm going to be addressing are some of the risk of protective factors or adolescence, suicidal behavior. as you come to this conference to talk primarily about prevention of bullying, one of the things that you probably discussed is how bullying is associated with suicidal behavior. an

[applause] alan acosta, he is the director at the l. gay and lesbian center.cole cart rely, manager of outreach for afsp or american foundation for suicide prevention. [applause] and finally, michelle ybarra, and i think she's still getted mic'd up. so i encourage you to read their bios, but we want to have enough time for everyone to present so, please, remember to write down those questions on the cards, and we'll take them. thank you very much. oh, and with that, i will turn it over to alex. >> good morning to all of you. and i wanted to thank the department of education, department of health and human services for the invitation to come in to talk with you today. what i'm going to be addressing are some of the risks and protective factors for adolescent suicidal behavior. as you've come to this conference to talk primarily about prevention of bullying, one of the things that you have probably discussed is how bull bullying is associated with suicidal behavior s. so as part of what aisle talk about is trying to look at that context and trying to look at tha