Project 10’s story began when a gay youth in child protective services voiced that their needs were not being met. In 1990, two social workers at the Batshaw Youth and Family Centers responded by starting “Projet 10” as a pilot project to aid in STI and HIV prevention with LGB youth. Projet 10’s operations eventually split from Batshaw in 1999, became its own organization and formed its first board of directors. 

Over the past 28 years, Project 10 has continued to expand its services to meet the changing needs of 2LGBTQ+ youth in Montreal. Project 10 ran its first summer camp in 2001, and in 2003 the organization changed its mandate to officially include trans and gender questioning youth. 

Thanks to the continued increase of funding since then, Project 10 has grown a lot! Recently with the help of the Government of Canada, we launched the Our Bodies, Our Stories program in Summer 2017. This arts and performance training and mentorship program for queer and trans youth of colour is emblematic of our longstanding priority to promote the holistic well-being for 2LGBTQ+ youth at the intersections of multiple oppressions. 

This year we are working to incorporate the feedback we received in the services audit report compiled during the February to May of 2019. Following the incredible efforts and thorough insight from our community members and external consultants, we will be adding two new weekly groups to support their needs: one catered to youth between 14-17 and another for QTBIPOC (Queer, transgender, Black and Indigenous people of colour) between ages 14-25. 

Our youth group aims to encourage building a space to build upon foundations of socialization and community support before adulthood. Continuing with the semistructured system of drop ins, we will offer two hours of activities, workshops, and discussions with plenty of unstructured time to chill and have a snack! Starting July 2, 2019, youth groups will be on Tuesdays from 5-7pm. 

Following the feedback from our services report, we heard that QTBIPoC want a more casual social space than the large commitment and art- focus of the service Our Bodies, Our Stories. Our QTBIPoC youth group will be an environment for socialization, art creation and workshops, skillsharing, creating connections across generations and site visits.  Starting in October 2019, this group will meet weekly on Tuesdays from 7-9pm.