2019 Fellow

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Jonathan Lykes

Keeping the Ballroom Community Alive Network (KBCAN)

LGTBQ youth of color are hyper-marginalized and, statistically, are at greater risk of violence and homelessness. Jonathan’s pioneering work, the Keeping the Ballroom Community Alive Network (KBCAN), focuses on building power, providing healing spaces and training leaders within the House and Ballroom community — traditionally made up of LGTBQ youth of color — in trauma-informed Black, queer and feminist approaches to transform care and policymaking.

Over the next 18 months, Jonathan will build the capacity and leadership of the House and Ballroom community by launching a fellowship program and holding a national leadership convening. He will implement healing circles in which KBCAN members can learn transformative justice models and work to change the narrative around the political agenda of LGTBQ youth of color through documentary work on organizing and political life within the House and Ballroom community. In addition, Jonathan and the Keeping the Ballroom Community Alive Network will host the 4th annual Ball on City Hall/Unity Ball and launch a ballroom-style direct action in New York.

Jonathan’s work will radically transform the lives of LGTBQ youth of color and is rooted in a set of liberation values, practices and strategies that promote gender self-determination, freedom and the dismantling of patriarchal systems.

The House and Ballroom Community knows the value of family. It aligns with the values embedded into four generations of social justice work led by the Cummings family. I would like to engage with NCF on gender liberation to work to ensure all people have a seat at the table, particularly those who are queer, trans and gender non-conforming. This work is ultimately about my community being able to joyfully live out their self-determined lives without limitations or barriers.

–Jonathan Lykes