Trans Youth Leadership Summit (TYLS) is a collaborative fellowship program providing young transgender people the opportunity to work toward liberation through collective organizing for solidarity, advocacy, and empowerment. TYLS fosters the skills of dozens of emerging trans leaders and puts them at the forefront of critical issues transgender people face. We are bringing together revolutionary young trans leaders to heal from transphobic violence, build communities, learn how to enact restorative justice, and create direct action. TYLS looks toward root causes rather than simply covering up the effects of anti-transgender violence.
Few people recognize that some of the most influential uprisings in our community were incited by young gender nonconforming and trans people of color. Sylvia Rivera was only 17 and Marsha P. Johnson was only 23 at the time of Stonewall.
Now, there are currently no other national programs centering the leadership of young transgender people. Recognizing this, we will provide participants with funding for future conferences and events after the summit and connect with them through check-ins to further foster activism in their communities. TYLS is NOT just a summit, it is an ongoing relationship between trans community members.
Eligibility requirements:
1. You are trans, two spirit, Hijra, genderqueer, or nonbinary (please contact us if you feel your identity should be included on this list)
2. You are located in the United States
3. You are available to go to our Summit in Los Angeles on July 13th-16th
4. You are a youth (under the age of 26)
We hope to be as transparent as possible in our signup process. We are able to cover all expenses incurred during the summit for our participants (travel, food, etc), so please consider applying even if you are not able to pay for them yourself. You can sign up and learn more about selection on our website Trans Youth Leadership Summit. To make TYLS as accessible as possible, we also have an essay-optional video application as well as a mailable/printable application. If you cannot apply but know someone who can, you can also nominate them!
Important Dates:
March 13th-April 10th 11:59 PM PST: Applications for TYLS open
April 10th-22nd: Applications for TYLS close, selection process begins, finalists are chosen and reached out to
April 23rd-May 1st: Trans Student Educational Resources members collectively choose participants
April 25th-May 5th: Transportation is booked for participants
May 15th: Social media groups for participants are created for collaboration and introductions
July 13th: Participants fly into Los Angeles and are introduced
July 14th: First full day of workshops, stories, and education
July 15th: Second full day of workshops and education
July 16th: Evaluations and additional workshops, participants depart
July 22nd: Participants are given final evaluations
July 22nd-ongoing: Participants collaborate with Trans Student Educational Resources on making TYLS sustainable and spreading what they learned at the summit at conferences and events
If you have questions, you can contact us at TSER [at] transstudent.org.
