GUTF Chosen as Young Futures Innovators grant 2025 recipient
(February 26, 2025) – Give Us The Floor, a nonprofit providing 2SLGBTQIA+ youth a safe digital space to get peer support via a free mobile community app, today announced that Founder & Executive Director Valerie Grison-Alsop, has been selected to join the Young Futures (YF) Innovators Cohort of Young Futures, a nonprofit on a mission to make the digital world an easier place to grow up. Selected from nearly 200 applications, Give Us The Floor is a grant recipient of the Under Pressure Challenge (UPC) to advance our solution for addressing the pressures pre-teens and teens face in today’s digital world. Grison-Alsop will participate in the Young Futures Academy (YFA), a five-month program offering one-on-one mentorship, a robust peer community of like-minded leaders, and coaching in storytelling, communications, and fundraising.
"We are thrilled to welcome Give Us The Floor to our Under Pressure Cohort," said Katya Hancock, Executive Director of Young Futures. "Their work directly addresses the digital pressures that pre-teens and teens face and the ways these pressures intersect with their social and emotional lives. Together, we are committed to empowering young people with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly complex technological age."
At a time when nearly half of teens report using the internet “almost constantly” and yet, major social networks have committed to rolling back DEI programs as well as protections for 2SLGBTQIA+ discrimination support on their platforms, Give Us The Floor is joining other Under Pressure Challenge YF Innovators to address the unique pressures young people face in today’s tech-driven world with the goal of helping youth better navigate digital tension. Through these efforts, Give Us The Floor is working to foster a healthier relationship with technology that reduces stress and supports emotional wellbeing for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
For more information on Give Us The Floor, visit giveusthefloor.org.
About Give Us The Floor
Give Us The Floor (GUTF) is a US-based non-profit organization providing 2SLGBTQIA+ youth across the US in distress with a supportive community of their peers when they need it most in a safe, online environment. Our inclusive group chats provided through our free mobile app give 2SLGBTQIA+ youth a safe coping tool to break the isolation and shame cycles they so often experience. Trained youth facilitate the confidential and anonymous groups, and participants help each other talk through prevalent mental health and social issues such as depression, loneliness, anxiety, identity, discrimination, bullying, relationships, domestic violence, and body image.
About Young Futures
Young Futures (YF) is a nonprofit seeking to make the digital world an easier place to grow up. YF provides a social compass for teens and families navigating the tech-driven world by supporting emerging nonprofits working tirelessly to help young people and their families not just survive but flourish as a team when navigating the uncertainties of the digital wilderness. Young Futures is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Its principal sponsors include Pivotal Ventures, Susan Crown Exchange, and The Goodness Web.
About The Under Pressure Challenge
Pre-teens and teens today are living in a pressure cooker, where technology is both a source of relief and an added strain. On the one hand, tech provides an outlet for self-expression, connection with friends, and moments of escapism, helping young people decompress from their busy lives. But on the other, it magnifies feelings of inadequacy and comparison, making the challenges of growing up even more overwhelming.
In order to alleviate these pressures, we must recognize how tech exacerbates the strain of adolescence — both in subtle ways (like managing your online reputation) and more obvious ones (like sleepless nights spent comforting friends or anxiously comparing lives on social media).
Digital tension is real — teens are constantly balancing the demands of the digital world with their need for self-care, autonomy, and a sense of privacy. This mental load can be exhausting and harmful, contributing to stress, anxiety, and insecurity.
The Under Pressure Challenge exists to support innovative solutions that help ease these pressures. The Under Pressure Cohort represents a range of programs, resources, and tools that empower teens and preteens to navigate the tech-driven world with greater confidence, joy, and self-awareness.
