The Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth is the only non-profit organization in the Miami-Dade County exclusively committed to providing prevention, early intervention social services, and youth enrichment activities to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (GLBTQ) youth and their families.

Why are we here?

By every risk indicator, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/ queer youth are among our most vulnerable communities. In our 2005 pilot study of Miami GLBTQ youth, 46% had experienced suicidal ideation and 23% had attempted suicide. Fifty-seven percent of GLBTQ youth struggled with substance abuse and 99% experienced verbal and/or physical harassment. In the follow-up research study conducted in 2007, over 34% had been kicked out of their home between 1 to 7 times, 72% wanted help dealing with stress, particularly anger management, 49% believed they lost friends because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 66% needed an adult to talk with about GLBTQ issues. The local Dade Community Foundation also conducted a Community Assessment in 2008, and respondents indicated the most serious issue facing GLBT youth were: homelessness, mental health, addictions, discrimination, health, and isolation. GLBTQ youth are a population in distress and few local services exist to assist them in crisis situations. These daunting statistics represent the direct impact on Miami-Dade County youth, and obliges The Alliance to provide programs that are holistic in approach.

Our Mission

The Alliance for GLBTQ Youth coordinates a full range of quality services through partnerships with many service organizations to Miami-Dade County’s youth, families and their communities while advocating for equal rights and status of all youth regardless of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/ expression.

Our Guiding Principles

1. All decisions we make must have as their ultimate goal the improvement of the lives of GLBTQ youth.
2. We are focused on identifying potential resources for GLBTQ youth to create the most comprehensive system of services for GLBTQ youth.
3. We are committed to nurturing and sustaining strong GLBTQ youth serving agencies and programs based on a foundation of strong and effective collaboration with continual evaluation and growth.
4. We have a demonstrated commitment to providing leadership opportunities to empower GLBTQ youth as full participants in the governance of their own services.