We at Trans Family Support Services are proud of our Youth and Community Program’s Manager, Evan Johnson (they/them), being the recipient of the Leon L. Williams Human Relations Commission Youth Award. Evan is a beacon to the youth we serve. In the six years that they have been advocating for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) youth, they have constantly remained grateful of the work they are able to do every day.
In their advocacy work, Evan engages both the community at-large as well as the specific community that we serve in LGBTQ+ spaces. Evan serves as Co-Chair on the San Diego Police Departments LGBTQ Advisory Board, sits on the Child Protective Services Transgender Work Group, and serves on the San Diego County Office of Education LGBTQ Committee. They take their advocacy and perspective on TGNC issues directly to the chambers in which they need to be heard.
In their time with the organization, they have helped to train, educate, and amplify trans competency training into academia, civics, and healthcare where the attention to trans competency is often lost. Even more so, in those trainings, Evan leads with empathy and when approached by participants who might be missing the purpose of the training, they lead them back to point with ease. Outside of their training, Evan supports school Gender Sexuality Alliances (GSA’s) through site visits in which they encourage and enable students and faculty serving as club leads to feel confident in supporting one another and having the proper tools to support others.
On a monthly basis, Evan shows their support for LGBTQ+ youth through their experience managing 5 rotating peer-to-peer support groups. These support groups, which are hosted through the organization they work for, Trans Family Support Services, offer the groups free of charge to youth 11-17 as well as young adults 18-30. Evan has also played a large part in the development of the organization’s Parent and Family Programs which helps parents of transgender youth and young adults understand and communicate more effectively with their children who are on a journey with their gender.
We understand how lucky we are to have Evan on Team TFSS. Their perspective and expertise are an intrinsic part to the success of our Trans Competency Training. It comes with no surprise to the team that Evan was selected as the 2021 recipient of the Leon L. Williams Human Relations Commission Youth Award for his work, courage, and leadership in serving the Transgender and diverse communities of young people in San Diego.
