Rev. Louis Mitchell
Co-Founder
Serving as Executive Director
Transfaith board member from 2018
The Rev. Louis Mitchell is a pioneering "intentional man," elder, and advocate, who serves as the Executive Director for Transfaith. Louis has been involved in the fight for health, respect and self-determination since the late 1980s, with deep engagement in political, mental health, recovery, and black church contexts.
Some key accomplishments include:
Served as founding executive director of the Oshun women's drop-in center (San Francisco, CA)
Worked with clients and staff at Morris Home, a transgender-specific residential recovery house in Philadelphia, PA
First "out" transgender-identified board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and as a founding member of Lesbians and Gays of African Descent for Democratic Action
Co-founded Recovering the Promise Ministries in Springfield, MA
Profiled in the documentary, Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen.
Served as a founding member of the TransSaints ministry of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, as well as East Coast Regional Minister
Served as the founding Officer for Religious Affairs for the Transgender People of Color Coalition
Served as a member of the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention at both the regional (Pioneer Valley) and the statewide (Massachusetts) level.
Provided keynote addresses for the 2011 Trangender Religious Leaders Summit, 2012 First Annual Black Transmen, Inc Conference, 2012 Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference
Received the 2011 Haystack Award from the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC for his work in Social Justice and Social Ministry and honored with the 2015 Claire Skiffington Vanguard Award from the Transgender Law Center for his long time advocacy for the disenfranchised
Honored by Black Trans Advocacy with a Foundation Award in 2013. Established in his name, the "Louis Mitchell Foundation Award for Empowerment" acknowledges those who increase spiritual, political, or social strength through service, personal encouragement, and availability to the Black Trans Community.
Recognized as a part of the 2014 edition of the Trans 100, Louis was named as one of the ten leading Black Religious leaders Advancing LGBTQ Justice by BelieveOutLoud
Profiled in the LGBT Religious Archives Network gallery
Received the President’s Award from the Wells College students for his 2015 Residency on Intentional Inclusion and Building Diversity
Ordained in the United Church of Christ, 2018.
Additional influences include:
Using his own learned experience, a broad range of resources, theories and studies, to bring a fresh, “on the ground”, open-hearted, holistic strategy to the work of individual and community healing.
Raised in the black Baptist church, in Los Angeles, CA
Studied with Angela Davis in California
Has been sober for more than two decades
Parents a young child, Kahlo, with her mother, Krysia L. Villón