Cotopaxi Announces Partnership With True Colors United

Cotopaxi, a certified B CorporationTM outdoor gear and apparel brand, announces their impact partnership through the Cotopaxi Foundation with True Colors United (TCU) to support and invest in long term solutions to youth homelessness across the world, specifically for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC youth and young adults. Funding will support TCU’s programs both in Latin America and the U.S., focused around training, education, youth action and technical assistance.

Founded in 2014 with a deep-rooted mission to combat extreme poverty through access to education, healthcare and livelihoods, Cotopaxi feels strongly aligned with TCU’s commitment to uplifting and advocating for LGBTQ+ youth and the unique struggles they face amidst homelessness. TCU believes in creating a narrative of empowerment and possibility in working with communities to make sure all young people can be their true selves while living in a secure environment.

“Cotopaxi aims to promote inclusivity and fight marginalization, which includes supporting people with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences,” explains Charlie Clark, Director of Giving and Cause Marketing at Cotopaxi. “We partnered with TCU in the hopes of creating a long term partnership focusing on supporting LGBTQ+ individuals, due to the disproportionate likelihood that they will experience houselessness or be forced into refugee status, both of which contribute directly to increasing poverty levels. TCU has a strong track record of empowering individuals to lift up their communities, something that’s also core to who we are as a brand. It’s critical for us to continue working to empower and support the communities we work within. ”

Gregory Lewis, Executive Director and CEO of TCU, believes their new partnership with Cotopaxi ties in well with their long history of partnering with companies whose core mission is to make positive change. “We are ecstatic to align with Cotopaxi as an impact partner,” states Lewis. “With equity and access as a core tenant of their mission as a brand, we’re excited to see how the funds Cotopaxi provides can create lasting impacts on the communities both we, and Cotopaxi, are passionate about.”

Sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) is directly tied to increased prevalence of poverty and is a major driver of international displacement into refugee status — and in many cases can result in “double displacement” in conflict zones, losing their homes and the support of loved ones. TCU is focused on creating long-term solutions to end LGBTQ youth homelessness, not quick and temporary ones. Their work centers around the following tenants:

• Advocacy across all levels of government to put protections in place for young people experiencing homelessness
• Train and educate direct service providers to give them the tools they need to make their programming and offerings more inclusive to the roughly 40% of youth experiencing homelessness who identify as LGBTQ
• Build the power of youth with lived experience through programs like the National Youth Forum on Homelessness, so youth have leadership opportunities to make change themselves
• Provide technical assistance to community leaders — currently working with 77 different communities on the ground through initiatives such as Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project