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History of Trevor Project

The Trevor Project was founded by writer James Lecesne, director/producer Peggy Rajski and producer Randy Stone, creators of the 1994 Academy Award®-winning short film, Trevor, a comedy/drama about a gay 13-year-old boy who, when rejected by friends because of his sexuality, makes an attempt to take his life.

When Trevor was scheduled to air on HBO® in 1998, the filmmakers realized that some of the program's teen viewers might be facing the same kind of crisis as Trevor, and began to search for an appropriate support line to broadcast during the airing. They discovered that no such helpline existed, and decided to dedicate themselves to forming what was, in their view, a much-needed resource: an organization to promote acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, and to aid in crisis and suicide prevention among that group. Thus, The Trevor Project was born, and with seed funding provided by The Colin Higgins Foundation, The Trevor Helpline was established and became the first and only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

Today, in addition to operating the crisis and suicide prevention helpline, The Trevor Project provides online support to young people through the organization's Web site, and also provides lifesaving guidance and vital resources to educators and parents.

Dave Reynolds, MPH, CPH
 
Advocacy and Education Manager

Dave Reynolds is a Pittsburgh native with a B.A. from Occidental College in Los Angeles and an M.P.H. from Columbia University in New York . He is also certified by the National Board of Public Health Examiners. Dave's graduate work at Columbia in the department of Sociomedical Sciences focused on education and program design as well as policy, research, and evaluation. During his undergraduate career, Dave served as the Special Projects Intern at The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where he helped construct the "HIV and AIDS @ 25" Media Resource Guide which was released in June 2006 to recognize 25 years of the pandemic. He also spent four months living in South Africa researching HIV and AIDS prevention education in public schools in townships. A former summer camp counselor, and manager for anti-gang and academic enrichment programs in under-served East Los Angeles high schools, Dave is no stranger to working with young people. Most recently as part of his graduate-level work, Dave joined a research team to look at antiretroviral therapy adherence and how it relates to the communication styles of the prescribing physician. Before joining us as the Advocacy and Education Manager, Dave served as our East Coast Call Center Manager from the Randy Stone East Coast Call Center 's opening in August, 2007 through May, 2009. During his time at that post, he worked with our Program Director to grow and train The Trevor Helpline's base of volunteers in suicide prevention and crisis intervention. Today, he enjoys furthering our knowledge of health issues impacting LGBT communities and loves his work with The Trevor Project's advocacy, education and research initiatives.

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