YES Institute began as a personal project in 1996 led by Connie Barden and Martha Fugate. Known then as Project YES, the two met with local South Florida community leaders and educators to understand what could be done to keep gay and lesbian youth from wanting to kill or harm themselves.

In these meetings, they discovered three critical reasons why well-intentioned professionals were not taking effective actions:

• Many lacked education about gender and orientation.
• They were not comfortable talking about gay youth.
• They did not know what effective actions they could take. 

Martha and Connie dedicated YES Institute’s mission to overcoming these limitations by providing powerful communication and education to empower community leaders to serve and protect all youth.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for South Florida’s young people. Each year, more than 35% of local youth who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or unsure consider attempting suicide — 3.5 times more than their heterosexual peers. For transgender youth, the rate is 6 times greater. 

Underscoring this tragedy are orientation and gender-based bullying behaviors that affect all students: 72% of South Florida middle and high school students hear anti-gay and gender-stereotyped slurs on a weekly basis. For students of color who also identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, 53%-67% have been the target of anti-gay slurs.

Through cutting-edge research, communication training, and education initiatives, we work with leaders across a wide variety of fields – from schools, to Systems of Care, to workplaces, and more. Today, we serve more than 6,000 children, youth, and adults annually in South Florida and elsewhere, in-person and on virtual platforms. 

We are proud of our strides — yet there is still much work to do. Together with our community partners and supporters, YES Institute is at the forefront of conversations for change, executing our founders’ vision and laying the foundation for civil discourse and lasting change. 

As we look back over the dozens of partnerships, tens of thousands of children, teens, and adults served, and countless lives impacted through our programming, we are so thankful for this community and our supporters who have made it happen.