Pride Means You’re Never Alone
TrevorSpace.org is an international online community for LGBTQ+ youth navigating the challenges of today, and every day.
Pride is Everywhere
This year, we’re helping support The Trevor Project’s “Pride Everywhere” campaign to raise awareness for TrevorSpace.org, an affirming international community for LGBTQ+ youth to connect with each other and find peer support. These youth represent an especially vulnerable group within the LGBTQ+ community, and it’s our hope that this effort with The Trevor Project can help remind LGBTQ+ young people that they are never alone.
Pride = Community and Collaboration
In 2019, The Trevor Project was selected to receive a Google.org grant through the Google AI Impact Challenge. This program, along with full-time support provided by a team of 11 Googlers through the Google.org Fellowship, enabled The Trevor Project to integrate AI into its lifesaving services, which provide 24/7 crisis counseling and resources to LGBTQ+ youth who need help. The Trevor Project’s counselors leverage technologies powered by AI systems to better assess the suicide risk level of youth in crisis more quickly. This speed of processing enables counselors to better tailor their support as well as provide relevant resources and consistent quality of care.
In short, with technology powered by AI, Trevor's staff and hundreds of volunteer crisis counselors (including Googlers and members of Google’s LGBTQ+ and Trans At Google Employee Resource Groups!) can serve LGBTQ+ youth at highest risk of suicide more quickly and with an even higher quality of care.
Learn more about The Trevor Project and their work to support LGBTQ+ young people at www.TheTrevorProject.org.
A Commitment Renewed
In order to help The Trevor Project scale to meet record volume during the COVID-19 crisis, Google.org is renewing its commitment to the organization with an additional $1.2M grant and a second Google.org Fellowship team. This brings Google.org's support to $3.2M in funding to date, and the grants + pro bono support will help The Trevor Project move closer to their goal of serving over 1.8M LGBTQ+ youth in crisis annually.
This new grant and Google.org Fellowship will enable The Trevor Project to continue to incorporate machine learning and natural language processing into its crisis services and platforms to help save young LGBTQ+ lives.
With Google’s support, The Trevor Project will be able to grow their capacity: expanded training will enable volunteer crisis counselors to rehearse simulated support sessions with an AI-based chat-bot, and machine learning-based comment moderation will enable TrevorSpace.org to provide a safe space for millions of additional LGBTQ+ youth.
(L) Amit Paley, CEO of The Trevor Project; (R) Jacquelline Fuller, VP of Google.org
Pride Around The World
Local LGBTQ+ organizations are figuring out ways to navigate the new reality while continuing to support their community, which is why Google.org is donating an additional $1.2M to local LGBTQ+ nonprofits around the world. With this support, these organizations will continue to expand their services and find unique ways to support their neighbors during Pride and beyond.
Click here to learn more about the Local Guides supporting the global LGBTQ+ community
