Community Organizer-In-Residence
Applications Open – Due April 13, 2026
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER-IN-RESIDENCE 2026-27
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Is your full-time job organizing for the community? Is your side-gig working in-community? Do you work on mutual aid projects? Do you work tirelessly toward better conditions for those around you? We want to learn from you!
Join us as our Community Organizer-in-Residence! Past Community Organizers have worked on:
Improving the lives of trans and 2-Spirit sex workers, creating programming for trans women living with HIV, hosting community consultations for street-based sex workers alongside digital resource guides and virtual workshops, hosting events and creating a magazine for HIV+ communities in Toronto, creating space for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, establishing peer-to-peer resource groups for LGBTIQ+ newcomers to Canada, developing programming to support trans women’s dating and safety in Toronto, and creating a body of work focused on the intersections of Black masculinity with Muslim and queer identities.
If you’re unsure if this position is a good fit for you, please send us an email!
The Queer and Trans Research Lab (QTRL) is pleased to invite applications for its Community Organizer Residency Program. The program will provide 1-2 year-long residencies to community leaders and activists working on social and political problems affecting LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC lives and communities. The residents will work on a project of their choice that addresses social inequality in LGBTQ2S+ QTBIPOC communities. This can be a project they are already working on in their communities. Successful applicants will also actively participate in a variety of events, such as presentations, class visits, workshops, panels, and meetings at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.
Community Leaders in Residence will receive a stipend of $15,000. In addition, the Bonham Centre will provide up to $5,000 in support for project resources, subject to university policies and guidelines. The residency will take place from September 2026 – June 2027. This residency does not include benefits and cannot provide donations to any charitable organization.
Successful applicants are expected to be residents of the Greater Toronto Area or interested in relocating here during the time of their residency. During the period of their award, they will join the faculty and students who make up the QTRL and participate in the Bonham Centre’s activities. They will be given office space and access to the faculty resources, archives, and library collections available at the University of Toronto and the Bonham Centre.
Goals of the Community Leadership Residency:
- Provide activists and community leaders the opportunity to sustain their work and help strengthen the infrastructure of social transformation by providing leaders/activists with the time and space to improve the lives of people in their/our communities.
- Support the development of grassroots organizing
- Encourage mutual learning between activists, students, and scholars to create new models of public scholarship and engagement.
The Bonham Centre Community Residence Leadership Program is designed for individuals who have demonstrated leadership in community-serving and non-profit organizations and have experience with grassroots organizing and practice. While we understand that many who participate in community building projects are also employed by academic institutions, priority will be given to applicants who do not have full-time academic positions in the global north.
Interested Applicants Should:
- Be 18 years or older
- In residence in the GTA during the period of the award
- Be available during the residency period for activities such as QTRL meetings, classroom visits, and other scheduled events (approx. 4 hrs/week)
- Demonstrate a record of working for social justice
- Demonstrate a commitment to building a cross-disciplinary network of community leaders, activists, students, artists, and researchers
- Indicate what they hope to gain from a fellowship at the Bonham Centre, including the issues they plan to explore and how Bonham Centre students, staff, and faculty can contribute to these aims.
To apply, submit all materials as one PDF file to qtrl.sds@utoronto.ca.
Please provide us with the following:
- A Personal statement (750 words) – Why are you applying for this residency? Specify the work you plan to do while in residence. What do you hope to gain from the experience, or what questions do you hope to explore? How is your background relevant to your goals? We are also interested in learning your plans on sharing any work produced during the residency that fulfills a community outreach and/or public scholarship/education agenda.
- Resume/CV
- Short biography (250 words)
- Contact details of 2 references (name/title/email/relationship to applicant)
Applications due: April 13, 2026
2025-26
Monica Forrester (she/they) is a 2Spirit Trans Women of color, activist, community leader, sex worker, and parent. For 27 years she has been working in community services to bring awareness to the lives of racialized and marginalized Trans and 2Spirit folks that may be sex workers, under housed, unemployed, use substances, and are experiencing systemic and societal violence. She works on creating inclusive spaces for Trans/2Spirit people in places of community and employment. Her work is grounded in the belief that supervising and leading outreach teams through a harm reduction approach has better outcomes for community members that may be engaging in sex work, using substances and/or are under housed. Her current goal is to create opportunities for Trans/2Spirit people to use their life experiences and training in harm reduction to create employment opportunities to transition individuals into the workforce. Creating pathways to employment allows Trans/2Spirit people with no work experience or education to build skills to work in community services to support others in the community that may share the same life experiences. As part of the residency, Forrester will create training modules that support marginalized and racialized trans people through harm reduction and peer outreach employment methods and approaches as they apply to work.
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Previous Community Organizers-in-Residence
2024-25:
2023-24:
2022-23:
Alphonso King Jr. (AKA Jade Elektra or DJ Relentless)
2021-22: