The Silver Lining Foundation

Americas

The Silver Lining Foundation is a youth led Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) acting to serve the interests of the youths of Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean region, as a whole. The organization primarily acts as a guardian body for marginalized youths seeking to prevent suicide and discrimination. The focus, while on bullying and discrimination, is centred on youth with regards to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues and those of Gender Identity & Expression. The foundation is a youth-led response to the tragic suicide of a 16 year old high school student. He found it impossible to deal with the difficulties arising from his sexuality and in September of 2011, he took his own life. Young adults from across Trinidad & Tobago came together, in February of 2012, inspired to prevent future tragedies so his death wouldn’t be in vain. It was this monumental move that led to the inception of The Silver Lining Foundation. This organisation concurrently set out to deal with issues of youth sexuality, suicide and bullying prevention. Special emphasis has been placed on the area of addressing bullying and violence within the framework of sexual diversity due to the lack of attention it receives.