Dena Stanley, Executive Director and Founder of Trans YOUniting, recognized early that Black trans people were being shut out of safe and stable employment. With her background in the culinary world, she used food to break down barriers, create safe jobs, and build pathways into affirming work. Out of that effort grew a vision of workforce development as a foundation for stability and dignity, which became the starting point for Trans YOUniting.

Over the past decade, that vision has grown into an ecosystem of care. In 2020 we opened our first YOUr Haven Shelters housing unit, now expanded to seventeen beds with case management and life skills support. In 2022 we launched the QMNTY Center, offering showers, laundry, a computer lab, gym, library, and space for workshops. In 2025 we opened the QMNTY Closet, the only free thrift store dedicated to the TLGBQIA community in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Together, the QMNTY Continuum serves 140 to 180 people every week.

Our cultural traditions and community celebrations have flourished. TransGiving, now in its ninth year, and Queermas, now in its third, fed more than 780 people in 2024. Through Pride, we made history: in 2024 the First Lady of the United States became the first sitting White House family member to speak at any Pride festival. In 2025 we welcomed more than 275,000 attendees and 300 vendors, making Pittsburgh Pride the largest in Pennsylvania. We are also proud partners in the TransPride YOUniting Health and Wellness Conference, the only trans conference in Pittsburgh.

Partnership has been our guiding principle, working with queer organizations, Black-led nonprofits, and women-centered agencies to build real intersectional power. These collaborations, alongside the resilience of our community, have made this decade possible.

We call this our Gilded Decade because gilded means golden. Our work and our people are golden — shining not because value was given to us but because we have always carried it within us.

On November 15, 2025, we will gather for The Gilded Decade Gala to celebrate what has been built and to sustain the work ahead. If you cannot attend, this is still your chance to stand with us. In a political climate where trans lives are under relentless attack, every contribution matters. Donations fuel shelter, meals, healthcare access, advocacy, and celebration. Your support ensures that Trans YOUniting not only survives but thrives into the next decade.

The Gilded Decade Gala

Celebrating a Decade of Trans YOUniting: Honoring Our Past, Sustaining Our Future