Women at the Helm 2014
Director, Forty to None Project at the True Colors Fund
There is a crisis of LGBT youth homelessness in this country and Jama Shelton, LMSW, PhD, has been fighting to end it for more than a decade. A former homeless youth herself, Shelton’s life goal was forged while working with queer kids as a community-based artist in Texas. “Young people would disclose things that had happened to them in their lives that I did not have the skill set to address. It felt irresponsible to continue doing that work without learning more about how to handle such disclosures, so I decided to pursue an MSW,” she says. “After years of providing direct services to LGBT youth experiencing homelessness, I knew I wanted to do more.” She went back to school to work on her PhD, which she completed. Currently, she is the director of the Forty to None Project at the True Colors Fund, an LGBT organization co-founded by Cyndi Lauper. She’s also a professor at Hunter College and NYU School of Social Work. “I remember the first young woman of transgender experience who I helped get her own apartment 10 years ago,” she says. “I think about how hard she worked and how many barriers she broke through to get there. Her story, and countless others like hers, keep me going.”
Meet the next wave of out leaders!
CAROLINE DESSERT
Executive Director, Immigration Equality
“LGBT people have gained incredible movement towards full equality in the United States, but we can’t pull up the ladder on those who are the most vulnerable,” says Caroline Dessert. “There are more than 267,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants in our country, many of whom have faced severe human rights abuses abroad and now face deportation to the over 80 countries where being gay is a crime and the many more where it is fundamentally unsafe to be LGBT.” She advocates strongly for this population as executive director for Immigration Equality, a position that perfectly suits her social justice background and as a graduate of the UCLA School of Law. (Previously, she worked at the San Diego LGBT Community Center and for Planned Parenthood.) To those who are looking to embark on a similar career path, she offers the following sage advice: “Don’t be afraid to take a huge leap. Often, the greatest opportunities for growth are also the most intimidating. Take the big challenges on, and when you do, reach out to those who have paved the way and ask for help. You’ll be surprised by how many people will go out of their way to help young leaders succeed.”
