CONGRATULATIONS TO Madin Ray Lopez, founder of ProjectQ and winner of the $10,000 2020 STSML 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 counselling 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 theodds 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."

fiND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR past winners

OUR 2019 WINNER:
NOTOK APP

The notOK App, created by siblings Hannah and Charlie Lucas, came from a simple thought: what if with a click, loved ones could immediately know someone wasn’t okay and come to help them? Acting as a digital panic button, the notOK App gives users the ability to get support from friends, family, or other close contacts by sending out a message saying “Hey, I’m not okay. Please call, text, or come check up on me” along with a link to the user’s current GPS location and directions. With over 83,000 users already, the notOK App works to provide support for suicide prevention and mental health awareness.

OUR 2018 WINNER:
FIND YOUR ANCHOR

Find Your Anchor is a non-profit, grassroots movement aimed at suicide prevention, awareness and education. They create and send resource boxes filled with materials designed to inspire, sooth, and offer support to those struggling and contemplating suicide. By providing ideas, support, and inspiration in each box, Find Your Anchor aims to remind everyone that there are people all over the country waiting to listen, that they're not alone, and that there is hope.

Our 2017 winner:
cASSIE WILSON
AND HALF ACCESS

Half Access is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to making live music more accessible to the disabled community.

“The Sub City grant gave me the opportunity to turn my advocacy into an organized movement for change. It opened doors for me to find others who are equally as passionate about diversity and inclusion."

-Cassie Wlson, Half Access

Half Access was founded by Cassie Wilson in Portland, OR in the spring of 2017 when Wilson was 18 years old. Wilson, now 20, is disabled and uses a wheelchair when attending concerts. After facing repeated discrimination at general admission venues for a few years, her frustration grew and she quickly realized nothing was going to change anytime soon. She turned that frustration into productive energy, and started Half Access. Soon after, she applied for the first ever, 2017 Sub City Alternative Press Music Awards Grant for $10,000 presented by Hopeless Records, and was the recipient of it. She accepted the award at the APMAs in July of 2017. Since then, Half Access has become an official 501(c)(3) non-profit.