Lavender Magazine Community Pride Award – Nicki Hangsleben

The LGBTQ+ community needs mentors. It was a need that was seen as a key element to bring our next generation forward.

That was the reason why QUEERSPACE Collective was established – to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth to be mentored by our own community.

It was the vision of QUEERSPACE Collective’s Executive Director, Nicki Hangsleben to create this network of mentors and mentees. The results have been resonating and inspirational. “In the last three years, we have matched 75 LGBTQ+ youths with 75 LGBTQ+ mentors in our 1-on-1 mentorship program, which is really exciting,” explained Hangsleben. “That was kind of where we started in our beginnings. We also, in 2022, built a training institute, because we heard from other youth orgs that they needed training on how they can better support queer and trans youth, and since then, we’ve worked with over 100 organizations and 5 that trained over 5,000 people on how they can show up more inclusively for our queer and trans youth.”

In addition, QUEERSPACE Collective added a Saint Cloud-based program last year. They are not stopping there. They are about to open an LGBTQ+ Youth Center in Uptown Minneapolis in October, along with the release of a virtual mentorship app in the near future.

In response to being named as one of our Community Pride Award, Hangsleben said, “I just feel like it’s such an honor. There’s so many amazing community leaders doing such great work, so I just feel really honored. I get to do this work as a leader, and give this back to young people, and provide spaces where they can show up as their authentic selves, and it’s an honor to be recognized, but, honestly, even more of an honor to be able to do this work. To be honored in it, it’s just such a deep honor.”

For being a true leader through mentoring our next generation, Lavender Magazine congratulates Nicki Hangsleben for their Community Pride Award this year.