Congratulations to native Texan Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project and now a Time Magazine Time100 honoree.
As per Jaymes’ post on social media:
“I’ve been recognized in TIME Magazine’s TIME100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy — and as I was processing the news, I thought of the kid from Robstown, Texas who had no idea any of this was possible.
This belongs to the young people we serve — every one of them who trusted us with their hardest moment. It belongs to a team that shows up every single day with everything they have. And it belongs to a board that never flinched.
Robstown — I carry you with me. Into every room. Always.”
From Time Magazine:
Jaymes Black did everything to exude calm even as “it felt like the world around us was crumbling,” the Trevor Project CEO says.
It was June 2025, and the Trump administration announced it would end a partnership that gave LGBTQ+ callers a specific option, Press 3, to reach someone from the queer suicide prevention nonprofit the Trevor Project when using national mental-health crisis hotline 988. That decision came with a $25 million funding cut—more than a third of the group’s annual budget—and the loss of half of The Trevor Project’s call volume.
Black, who had led the organization for less than a year at the time, summoned a calm, “clear-eyed” approach to the crisis. “Did I personally panic in private at 3 a.m.? Yes,” they say. “Did I show that panic as I’m talking to my board and staff? No, I did not. I knew that I needed to stay focused and steady because everybody else was panicking.”
After laying off more than 200 employees, Black launched an “emergency lifeline campaign” to raise some $24 million, and pivoted to contracting with states and other groups to train hotline counselors on interacting with LGBTQ+ clients.
The pivot enabled Black to rehire some counselors, as has a surprise $45 million gift from MacKenzie Scott in January. That news challenged even Black’s cool demeanor. “I did fall out of my chair, actually, because I thought that I heard them incorrectly,” says Black. “After this really difficult political climate, and our survival organizations being under constant threat, here’s what we know: that one transformational gift, no matter how historic, does not end this crisis at scale.”