ProjectQ is the 2020 winners of the $10,000 Sub City Songs That Saved My Life grant. ProjectQ is a non-profit organization founded by Madin Ray Lopez that helps LGBTQIA+ homeless youth navigate a world that perpetually tries to diminish them.
Their mission is to use hair and self-empowerment as a form of social justice. ProjectQ provides free gender affirming haircuts, self-empowering workshops, food & hygiene boxes, gender affirming clothing, chest binders, menstrual products, and so much more to LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness. The grant will go towards crisis counseling training for the staff at ProjectQ, as well as funding an on-staff therapist to help the community they service receive mental health resources.
“Mental health stigma in the Black and brown community has kept us from maturing emotionally adding to the odds already stacked against us,” states founder & executive Director Madin Ray Lopez. “These statistics skyrocket when intersecting LGBTQ+ identities are added to one’s plate. It is not our fault as queer people of color that we do not have access, but it will be our fault if we continue passing our trauma to the next generation. At ProjectQ, the buck stops with us. Thanks to this grant, we will be able to provide mental health services for the youth that we service, while also training our staff on crisis intervention.”
Learn more about ProjectQ by watching this video: smarturl.it/ProjectQGrant
