Supportive coworkers, but toxic management and culture - Case Manager SMYAL Employee Review

1.0
29 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay and benefits and able to work with lgbtq people. Great coworkers who were passionate about the mission.

Cons

The ED supports directors who do minimal work and point fingers at staff who all work hugely without supervision. Directors blame front line staff, and ED is out of touch with the mission. SMYAL has a terrible work place culture and as queer person who is black I brought issues relating to racism to HR and to ED and eventually left because I felt there was a backlash. My division YDCE was not catered to queer people of color. A lot of the videos and things asked of people are very performative and staff have little feedback. Management operates at a high school level and the org is running into the ground.

Explore other reviews about SMYAL

5.0
20 Oct 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

We receive great support at this job.

Cons

I do not have any cons right now.

1.0
11 Oct 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really none, they claim to be an LGBTQ organization but can't even get employees OR youth's pronouns right

Cons

This is a truly awful place to work. The Executive Director, is a terrible person and a total hypocrite, who says that he cares about LGBTQ youth but really only cares about donors and money. The youth who work at SMYAL and attend programs are wonderful and deserve better. This organization works with primarily youth of color and has called the COPS on young people multiple times. They don't care about the safety or comfort of the youth they work with. The upper management is really only concerned about getting donations from wealthy white gay men and caters to their interests, not the interests of the youth they claim to care about. If you are hired at SMYAL in a lower-level position, as a young person or on a coordinator level, best believe you will be asked to do things you totally disagree with and will have little to no say in the organization. This organization TOKENIZES people of color and puts the POC who agree with the interests of wealthy white people in leadership positions so that they can say they are "people of color led." Meanwhile, the POC on the bottom levels of the organization and the actual youth are completely screwed over. SMYAL has a terrible reputation in the DC community and you'll see why if you work there.

4
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