Frank

"Today marks exactly one year since my very first visit to the Urban Justice Center. Your kindness, guidance, and heart mean so much to me. Thank you for believing in me and always showing up with compassion. In the end, we will carry the victory together even though everything once seemed impossible."

Amy, Our Project Director

"Our most powerful weapon is knowing that we can, and will, continue to engage in acts that meaningfully help individuals even when systems seem broken. Even though their victories may seem small in the course of things, they are powerful grains of hope to help us ride the current wave of despair."

Maliha for "Becoming"

The Free to Be Youth Project’s upcoming documentary, “Becoming,” explores the nuances of gender-affirming care from the perspective of unhoused and at-risk LGBTQ+ youth as they envision what is possible for their future looks and lives, deconstruct and reconstruct clothing and ideas, and work on and off the runway to become their most authentic selves.

Tats 4 Trans Equity

As policies aim to erase queer histories, bodies, and dignity, we came together to celebrate joy, resistance, and collective care through art. It’s more than just ink, it’s a permanent reminder of the importance of queer self expression and caring for one another in the fight for LGBTQ+ justice.

Joseph

"For me, coming to New York is, am I dreaming? I was lucky enough, shortly after arriving to New York to get connected to the Free to Be Youth Project. Am I’m so happy that I signed my work permit authorization, because I’m just gonna move forward my life here. And that’s what I came here to do. Start a new life."

Majé

"I insist on existing. Because we’ve been so programmed to be a certain way, to live inside certain boxes, if you’re too free, you’re too expansive, it reminds other people that they can’t be expansive, you know. That you don’t have to be confined to the boxes that we’ve been placed in."