Lived experience generates knowledge not available through formal education and training. If lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and young adults (YYA) experiencing homelessness are to be effectively engaged, their needs met, and their successful transition out of homelessness facilitated, they must be partners in the creation of solutions meant to help them. That means that everyone working to address LGBTQ YYA homelessness – including policymakers, government officials, advocates, researchers, and service providers – need to understand how to partner authentically with YYA experiencing homelessness. This article will introduce a framework for authentic YYA partnerships, describe the philosophy and values underlying the True Colors Fund’s successful partnerships with YYA, and provide examples of how YYA partnerships have informed our work, and as a result the communities we work with. It will discuss how, through the organization’s partnerships with YYA, we have recognized the importance of (1) broadening the narrative about LGBTQ youth homelessness to include the various intersecting reasons LGBTQ youth become homeless and (2) moving beyond a single paradigm of risk/victimization to include resilience and possibility
