Who We Are

Securing a union for The Trevor Project will implement a fail-safe sense of security in ensuring our colleagues are protected, uplifted, respected, and well-cared for. When we work toward creating coalescence between our organization’s mission, and the experiences of our colleagues, only then can we achieve equity in the workplace.

My colleagues (and I) deserve equity, justice, reparations, and accountability. I am honored to work with these wonderful, passionate folks to achieve this and more.

I’m a social worker and dedicated to ensuring I do my part in speaking out against injustices, advocating, and striving for a work environment that does the same. I want a union because it’s become too apparent that there’s a fundamental problem in the structures at Trevor that ultimately do not take into account the very base of The Trevor Project — crisis services as well as the overall mental wellness of folx throughout all departments. There is little to no transparency on what is happening and changes are happening constantly. None of them however benefitting those who both deserve and need it most. I believe in what Trevor is capable of being in our mission, and a reality where it is no longer a toxic work environment.

After experiencing and seeing what folks across the org have said about harmful work conditions and top down leadership, it’s time for change. I’m standing with my fellow coworkers and folks across the org to make a better work place for every single one of us.

As supporters and advocates for LGBTQ+ youth, we are fighting for a world where our young people can see a bright future for themselves. This bright future is being made right now, and it is not yet what I hope for our youth or for us. I’m fighting for a workplace where our identities are respected and honored, where our mental and physical health is prioritized, and where our basic needs are met. I trust that together, as a union, we can create a better organization for our young people.

As a worker on the Crisis Services side here at Trevor, my primary focus is always supporting our youth when they need us. Over the years, Trevor has seen a tremendous growth in its service, with more and more young folx continuing to seek support in their moments of crisis. In order to ensure that we are supporting our LGBTQ youth in every way we can, we must also grow at a sustainable rate to match the pace.

Trevor has not been listening to its workers or including us when making decisions, and a union will ensure our voices are being heard. Instead of caring for us, so many have been harmed by leadership at Trevor, and we need the protection of a union and collective action to make sure this does not continue. We are working towards a healthier, safer work environment, so we can not only better care for each other, but ultimately better care for our youth.

I want a union at Trevor because I believe our contacts can suffer when the environment is unsafe for workers. Young people in crisis deserve competent care from counselors who are highly trained, fairly paid, and protected from bias in their own workplace. I choose FTU because unionizing is the best way to express my solidarity with the young LGBTQ people who use our services.

I believe an organization is most effective when the people closest to the work are given the support they deserve and a voice in decision-making. Trevor has failed to do so. It’s clear the only way we can right Trevor’s course is by joining together in solidarity and building a union that represents all of us.

Crisis Workers and Supervisors care deeply for the queer and trans youth who reach out to Trevor for support and are incredibly skilled at what they do. But in having to regularly engage with challenging and traumatic content, they often have to put their own mental health and well-being at risk. Given the unique challenges this work has on a person’s mental health and well-being, Crisis Workers and Supervisors deserve to be paid more, to work in an environment where they are adequately supported, to have policies set in place that help to mitigate the impact of vicarious trauma, and to be involved in decision making. For years, we have advocated for this, and it’s time for us to come together as a union to see real changes.

The work done at The Trevor Project works to end suicide among LGBTQ youth. Unfortunately, Trevor as an organization doesn’t do a great job of taking care of and prioritizing our crisis workers’ well-being. Putting the lives of LGBTQ adults at risk by not offering living wages, comprehensive health care, and top down decision making by those not on the front lines. I want a union at Trevor to ensure we can continue doing our life saving work without putting our co-workers lives in jeopardy.

Trevor’s mission calls on us to create a better world for LGBTQ+ young people. I have been at Trevor for 3 years, and have worked in 3 different departments. I know that our workers are the best equipped staff to build this world, and to build the future of our organization. But without safe working conditions for our staff, we cannot provide the high-quality crisis services that LGBTQ+ youth deserve. Trevor has so much to learn from its staff — by supporting a staff union, it can model what it looks like to deliver crisis services with a deep level of care for frontline workers. I am also honored to organize alongside my colleagues, who have been speaking out against worker exploitation, transphobic and ableist policies, and a culture of racism and white supremacy for many years. As largely queer and trans workers, many of us came to Trevor seeking a safe place to work and found that we still had to fight for one. We’re still fighting now. As Friends of Trevor United, we are part of a long history of solidarity across the labor movement, queer & trans liberation movements, and movements for racial justice. By organizing a union, we are calling on Trevor to commit to the community we serve by supporting the dignity of all of the workers who serve it.

I believe in the collective power of a union! Our union will help ensure Trevor is a workplace that is safe, equitable, and sustainable for our Black, AAPI, Latinx, MENA/SWANA, and Indigenous colleagues. We deserve a Trevor that does not tolerate or excuse racism, bigotry, or white supremacy from its leadership. Everyday we come to work, we serve an integral role in building a safer and more equitable world for LGBTQ+ young people. It’s time we build a workplace that lives up to these values. La lucha sigue.

I want a union to make sure that the well-being of Trevor staff is prioritized, especially Crisis Workers and especially BIPOC, trans, disabled, and otherwise marginalized employees.

I joined The Trevor Project, like many of my colleagues, with the hope of helping to make the world a brighter and safer place for LGBTQ+ young people. I strongly believe that the only way to protect this mission is through a union. We cannot wholly advocate for LGBTQ+ young people when our internal work culture and policies inherently go against what we’re striving for. I am honored, humbled, and proud to work alongside such incredible humans to help build a brighter future for both our staff and our youth.

The Trevor Project operates with a culture of burnout. Throughout my three year tenure, I’ve seen so many passionate folks leave this workplace because they have been on severely understaffed teams with inequitable workloads. Our passion for eradicating LGBTQ+ youth suicide has been weaponized against us. A union will ensure that we are able to improve our working conditions so that we can ultimately provide better care for our youth in crisis.

I believe that a union is the way forward so that Trevor can become the organization we as workers so want it to be. We can only gain by centering the voices of our BIPOC, trans and disabled staff and respecting the knowledge and experience of our frontline workers. A union is the way to achieve fair compensation, prevent retaliation and ensure all our colleagues are treated with dignity.

This organization cannot seek achievement and forget about the progress and prosperity of our community. The Trevor Project’s ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sake and for our own.

I want a union at Trevor because our employees deserve a better accommodation process. I have experienced the process of fighting for an accommodation, and not only is the waiting period far longer than what is acceptable, it is also a grueling, exhausting, and demeaning process. Disabled employees deserve to have a fair and equitable process to get the accommodations we need. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be successful regardless of their ability.

I want a union at Trevor because I believe deeply in the power of collective action. The work folks at Trevor do is life saving work — it is both deeply necessary and highly skilled labor. That work is only possible when those providing labor have safe and equitable working conditions. It’s clear to me that the best way to ensure those working conditions is through a labor union.

We are inseparable from the community we serve. When leadership subjects us to bigotry, discrimination, instability, condescension, and inhumane working conditions, it is not only us that suffer, but the greater LGBTQ community as well. Our union will ensure that we can live with the dignity, stability, joy, and resources that we are so often denied elsewhere in our lives.

I believe that a union will create a compassionate and supportive workplace. Through our collective power, we can continue this incredibly important work and show up for LGBTQ+ young people.

I need a union for security and safety. I need a union in place to hold oppressive management accountable and to ensure BIPOC people who have grievances will be cared for and the justice they deserve. I need a union to ensure that our burned out crisis workers can have space and time to heal without the fear of being reprimanded. I need a union to create better care for all who need it, to hold management accountable for their complacency, and to make Trevor a safer place to work. Right now without the union it is not.

Sadly the feedback given to new leadership in order to make things better has been aptly ignored, written off for superfluous reasons or weaponized against us. I want a union so that we can meaningfully address the deeply harmful policies and values being upheld at Trevor as well as the harmful actions from our senior staff that make it difficult to support our LGBTQ young people. This especially includes addressing how these policies and actions make it much more difficult for our BIPOC, trans and non-binary staff to be successful in their jobs and protects their well-being. By joining together, we are able to leverage our collective power to ensure fairer working conditions for all of us that will have lasting impacts on the LGBTQ young people we are all here to support.

I’ve been so grateful to be part of collective action taken by my fellow workers at Trevor. Together, we have exposed the widespread racism, ableism, and transphobia enabled by current ”leadership,” forced the resignation of a CEO whose values were incompatible with our mission, and won substantial pay raises for all rank and file employees. Imagine what else we could accomplish together as members of a powerful union!

Unions were created from the labor rights movement because workers were being mistreated. Workers are still being mistreated; we’re not given enough consideration, we’re not given enough pay, and we’re not given enough say in the conditions in which we work. I want that to change for me and for everyone. It’s 2023 and the time for change is long past due.

As Trevor staff, we have the right for our voices to be heard and our concerns to be addressed. By unionizing, we are guaranteeing transparency from leadership, a safe workplace for all staff and a seat at the decision-making table when it comes to our services and actions that impact our colleagues.

I feel so lucky to work for The Trevor Project, and that is almost entirely due to the incredible people I work with. In order for us to offer the best care for LGBTQ+ youth, we must first secure the best care for ourselves. We deserve to work for an organization that reflects our values and supports us as both employees and as human beings, I look forward to that becoming a reality through Friends of Trevor United.

We all deserve to take up space, and to do so in an environment that is safe, equitable, and appreciative of the diversity, skills, and knowledge that we bring to the organization. Our union will work to ensure that the voices of our Black, AAPI, Hispanic/Latinx, MENA/SWANA, and Indigenous colleagues are heard, and respected. I believe there is power in coming together, and we will work to challenge the unjust conditions that have been created, and make a better Trevor for those who are here now, and those who come after us. Unionizing means that we will be able to advocate and secure fair treatment for all, so we can focus on passionately pursuing our work, to help end LGBTQ+ suicide. Si se puede!

I want a union to make sure everyone’s voices can be heard in the decision making process, that we can learn to work better together, and dismantle oppressive powers within our organization.