Local leader Dena Stanley and her organization, TransYOUniting, have been awarded the 2025 J.M.K. Innovation Prize, a prestigious national honor recognizing bold, early-stage projects tackling critical social challenges. The award, which includes $175,000 in unrestricted funding, comes as an affirmation of TransYOUniting’s work supporting TLGBQIA+ people, especially Black trans individuals, in the heart of Pittsburgh.
Stanley, a longtime community organizer and advocate, is only the second Black trans person to ever receive the J.M.K. Innovation Prize. Her selection highlights both the groundbreaking nature of TransYOUniting’s work and the urgent need for community-led, affirming care models across the U.S. The announcement came on Trans Day of Remembrance, a day that honors the lives of trans people lost to violence and neglect, underscoring the importance of this moment.
“We built the QMNTY Continuum because there was nowhere else for people like us to go. No safety net, no real belonging,” Stanley said. “Our community needed a place that saw us, affirmed us, and fought for us. The J.M.K. Innovation Prize gives us the stability to continue our work, to grow, to dream, and to secure a permanent home for the QMNTY Continuum.”
Founded in 2019 in collaboration with Proud Haven, the QMNTY Continuum is TransYOUniting’s flagship program. A grassroots, wraparound care model serving TLGBQIA+ Pittsburghers through shelter, essential resources, cultural connection, and civic engagement. It’s the only model of its kind in Pennsylvania, and it’s rooted entirely in lived experience.
To date, the QMNTY Continuum has served over 4,500 individuals across Allegheny County. Services include gender-affirming clothing through the QMNTY Closet, transitional housing via YOUr Haven shelters, and drop-in care, programming, and community space at the QMNTY Center. The team also provides healthcare navigation, accompaniment to appointments, workforce development, and basic needs like food, hygiene products, and transportation.
Approximately 75% of the organization’s staff are both Black and trans, and 95% identify as queer, a statistic that reflects one of TransYOUniting’s core values: care must come from within the community.
“Each part of the Continuum reinforces the others, offering stability, healing, and pathways toward independence,” Stanley explained. “Our model shows what’s possible when care is led by those most impacted. Lives are not only changed, they are saved.”
The J.M.K. Innovation Prize is awarded biennially to just ten projects nationwide. In its tenth year, the 2025 prize cycle received a record-breaking 3,790 applications, making Stanley’s win even more significant. Julia Bator, Executive Director of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, emphasized the urgency and courage of TransYOUniting’s mission.
“TransYOUniting is adapting to offer safety, stability, and hope at a time when trans people are under surveillance and attack,” Bator said. “Their work reflects the courage and creativity at the heart of the J.M.K. Innovation Prize, and we are thrilled to support them over the coming years.”
That support arrives at a time when, as Stanley notes, the organization faces serious challenges: increasing threats to trans rights, loss of funding, and the daily realities of sustaining a trans-led organization in an often-hostile political climate.
“Survival, for myself and for our organization, is the greatest challenge,” Stanley said. “But we refuse to back down because our lives, our safety, and our future depend on it.”
For Stanley, the work is both personal and political. “This idea came from wanting to build what I needed back then, a place where our people can rest, be cared for, and know their lives matter,” she said.
With the J.M.K. Innovation Prize, TransYOUniting plans to invest in staff retention and long-term sustainability, aiming to secure a community-owned space for the QMNTY Continuum.
“This is a powerful act of recognition,” Stanley said. “And it’s only the beginning.”
