Texas's Oldest LGBTQ Youth Nonprofit OutYouth Breaks Ground on New Community Headquarters
In October 2026, in the Texas state capital of Austin, OutYouth—the region’s oldest organization supporting LGBTQ+ youth—broke ground on its new permanent headquarters. Construction commenced on the organization’s historic property, where its previous facilities were rendered uninhabitable by severe structural water damage.
For over 25 years, OutYouth operated out of a structure built in the early 20th century known as The Little Blue Bungalow. Prior to the group’s arrival in 1998, the building housed the local queer newspaper The Texas Triangle. In August 2024, an upstairs water pipe burst, flooding the building for more than 12 hours. Inspections determined that repairing the aging structure would exceed the cost of constructing a modern, purpose-built facility. While preparing for construction, the organization transitioned to virtual mental health counseling and hosted drop-in programs at a temporary South Austin location.
According to reporting by LGBTQ Nation, the new two-story, 4,500-square-foot facility will nearly triple the size of the original 1,700-square-foot bungalow. The expansion will allow OutYouth to grow its counseling team from 6 to 18 clinicians and offer drop-in youth services five days a week. The facility will also permanently house The Jerry Strickland Jr. and Steve Kubenka Memorial Library, a community lending archive featuring over 1,800 LGBTQ-affirming titles.
OutYouth Executive Director Jaryn Holbrook stressed that establishing a dedicated, welcoming third space is essential amid heightened public and legislative debate in Texas, where challenges and bans on LGBTQ-inclusive literature in public schools and libraries have surged in recent years. Of the $3.52 million needed for the capital campaign, the organization has raised over $2.2 million; the remaining $1.3 million is being sought through its “Coming Home” community campaign, with a targeted grand opening in autumn 2027.
Founded in 1990 in Austin, OutYouth provides life-affirming mental health and social support services to youth and young adults aged 13 to 23. The organization estimates that 68,000 LGBTQ+ young people reside within the 10-county Capital Area region it serves.
Resource constraints and political headwinds facing community facilities have drawn national attention: Urania previously reported on a survey conducted by MAP and CenterLink, which found that three-quarters of LGBTQ community centers across the United States face threats and funding shortages.
