Share the Plate for June is Trans YOUniting

Trans YOUniting is a black Trans femme-led local nonprofit that centers and uplifts black trans and gender non-conforming community members through mutual aid, and workshops, job support, entrepreneurial training, housing assistance, and short-term shelter through Haven House.  The average stay is three months, although we have had folks stay as long as 9 months.    82% (14 out of 17) of the people who have entered our Haven House Programming have completed and moved on to their next best step.  Since the opening of Haven House, in November of 2021, we have served 17 trans and nonbinary young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. In collaboration with our partner Proud Haven, we also served over 50 youth last year with Drop-In Services that include culturally competent safer spaces, workshops, events, social support, and more. In 2022 we provided emergency 3-day hotel stays for over 50 folks in the area. We have served over 500 black queer and trans youth with our new My House programming focused on bringing HIV prevention to the community and not only expecting them to come to us. My House events focus on safer spaces for black and brown queer and trans folks to gather, provide HIV testing on-site, and can manifest in any number of ways to keep the community engaged including but not limited to parties, vogue nights, barber shop talk, university kiki balls and more. We also have a program called Navigating Systems, which works directly with our shelter residents and other community members in housing programs that create learning opportunities around basic life skills like filling out a resume, interview skills, how to clean and do laundry, shop on a budget, and self-care. 

As of May first, Trans YOUniting and Proud Haven celebrated 6 months in their new communal-run QMNTY Center (said Community). In the first six months, we have been open 1200 hours and served over 1000 LGBTQ people with walk-in use of the QMNTY closet which includes clothing, hygiene products, shelf-stable goods, workshops, community events, vogue nights, craft fairs, and more. Thank you in advance for your support! Every dollar you give goes right back to the community.