Created in 2015, the nonprofit Stand With Trans has dedicated itself to working with transgender youth and families who are struggling to cope with their child's transition. The organization's mission is to provide tools to empower, support and validate anyone needing services.
"We're the only ones in the state of Michigan who has this particular mission so what we're looking forward to doing is expanding the way we connect and communicate with our target audience. It seems that there's a group kind of in the middle that gets forgotten and that's literally the middle school kids," Keith said. "We have things for young children and for teens, but not for sixth, seventh and eighth grade. They're too old for the little kids and they're not quite old enough to participate in the conversation and support environments for the older kids. They kind of get left in the dust so we're exploring how we can better serve that population as well as continuing to educate within the community and expanding who we talk to."
Beyond expanding the supports for that demographic, Keith said that 2019's focus will also be directed toward service providers and other community leaders.
"We'll continue that educational path as well as continuing to teach anyone who is connected to families who have transgender youth," she said. "So that might be a pediatrician, another medical professional, a mental health practitioner, a teacher, a coach — we want to make sure that we expand our audiences again with the premise of the more people we can teach the more acceptance there will be out there."
