Trans queer youth nonprofit Central Valley
About Us
TQYC is a Trans & Queer, POC led non-profit organization dedicated to serving POC trans and queer youth and young adults in the CA Central Valley area.
Our mission is to EMPOWER these youth by providing vital resources and support tailored to their unique needs.
TQYC
TQYC is a Trans & Queer, POC led non-profit organization serving POC trans and queer youth and young adults in what is now called CA Central Valley area. The organization offers gender affirming supplies and mental-wellness centered support for youth grades 6-12 and young adults ages 17-24.
Youth members are empowered through leadership opportunities where they work with staff developing activities based on their interests and programs addressing the issues impacting their communities.
Our organization is built on a collective leadership model where youth leaders, family members, community members, and adult staff work together to achieve collective goals through accountability, trust, shared power, transparent and effective communication, and shared learning. We believe alternate community futures are possible and that POC trans and queer youth deserve to be safe and supported.
Core Values
ANTI-RACIST
Ensuring all structures, staff, and programming within TQYC follow anti-racist principles through the dismantling of racist and oppressive systems within our organization and our communities.
TRAUMA-INFORMED
Community engagement stems from a fundamental understanding and taking into account that everyone has their own traumas and experiences that we shall hold and create intentional space for through the scope of our programming.
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE
Curating culturally relevant events & resources that acknowledge the diverse intersections our served population occupies, particularly our youth and young adults of color and ensuring positive outcomes in safe(r) spaces.
HARM REDUCTION
Meeting community where they are with respect and dignity to provide safe(r), anti-carceral, and decolonial focused resources to empower 2SLGBTQIA+ youth & young adults through their wellness journeys.
CORE PROGRAM FOUNDATIONS
YOUTH ECHO
Acknowledging & implementing community voice via listening sessions & dual feedback across all programs between TQYC and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth & young adults.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Co-creation and co-production through intentional relationships with community partners to increase overall community access to resources & mutual aid in the spirit of collective liberation.
Team — Trans Queer Youth Collective
Meet the Team
Our team is built on collective leadership: youth leaders, community members, families, and adult staff working together through accountability, trust, and shared power.
▶ 01 / Team
Ayotunde Ikuku
SHE / HER / They
Raised in South Sacramento, Ayotunde is pursuing a dual degree in Sociology & Ethnic Studies with a Queer lens. She is the founder of S.P.I.C.E. (Street Pride Intersectional Community Empowerment) and helped pioneer Sacramento’s first Trans Job-Fair in 2019. She co-authored We Major: Black Trans Feminism Fights Back, published in Black Feminist Sociology Perspectives and Praxis (2021). Her praxis centers intersectionality in all things
Music production · poetry · comics · video games · bird mom
▶ 02 / Team
Betsy Joslyn
Betsy brings years of administrative experience from serving the Mexican community through consulate work where she also developed her interest in protocol and etiquette. Her focus areas include wealth redistribution and minority rights, and she brings that grounding to her coordination work at TQYC.
Crocheting · video games · fantasy books · anime · naps
▶ 03 / Team
Doc JuDah
they / judah / Ase
Founder, Speak Our United Liberation (SOUL)
Born on Kumeyaay lands and raised on Nisenan and Miwok lands, Doc JuDah holds an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (Oregon State) and a B.S. in Psychology (UC Davis). As founder of SOUL counseling, their work centers affirming and healing spaces rooted in anti-capital, decolonized, and re-indigenized frameworks. They activate at the intersections of Black liberation, Trans & Queer liberation, Disability rights, and environmental justice.
Black sci-fi audio books · Farming · Rootwork · Being a whimsical mermaid
▶ 04 / Team
Akello Sladen
They / He
Managing Director
With lived experience growing up Black and transmasc in a small conservative town, Akello has been in LGBTQ+ and foster care advocacy since 2004. They’ve served as a Camp Counselor, Workshop Facilitator, and Youth Advisory Board Member for the Gay Straight Alliance Network (2004–2011), and on the SOGIE Advisory Board for DHS (2018–2020). They bring professional and lived expertise to facilitation on 2SLGBTQIA+ topics and the foster care system.
Family time · Making memories with loved ones · Expanding higher education