Equity Shall Prevail (ESP) Fellowship
Black & Brown Trans Leadership, Academic Empowerment & Civic Engagement
Founded by Jennifer Barnes-Balenciaga
The ESP Fellowship is a transformative leadership and educational initiative that invests in Black and Brown transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, and allied leaders through academic empowerment, civic engagement, cultural identity, and human rights advocacy.
Inspired by the lives and legacies of Pauli Murray, Alain Locke, Zora Neale Hurston, Sylvester, Monica Roberts and other Black intellectual and cultural visionaries, the fellowship centers education as a pathway to liberation, democratic participation, and collective flourishing. The program combines Black cultural consciousness, gender affirmation, civic engagement, and academic excellence into a comprehensive five-prong framework.
The fellowship’s name carries a dual meaning. Equity Shall Prevail expresses a bold commitment to justice and human dignity. At the same time, ESP evokes an “extra-sensory perception”—the wisdom, intuition, and heightened awareness that marginalized communities often develop to navigate and transform a world not always built for them. This form of knowing is not mystical but lived: an ability to perceive inequity, imagine alternatives, build community, and lead with courage.
Through a multidisciplinary framework encompassing leadership development, academic achievement, cultural consciousness, wellness, and coalition building, the ESP Fellowship equips emerging leaders with the knowledge, skills, and networks necessary to shape institutions, advance equity, and organize the future. Rooted in the belief that those closest to injustice are also closest to its solutions, the fellowship cultivates leaders whose vision, resilience, and insight help create a more just and liberated world.
This version keeps Pauli Murray as a central thread without making the fellowship solely about Murray, while elevating the “ESP” metaphor into a powerful organizing principle.
Our Acting Director
A Cincinnati native, Jennifer Barnes-Balenciaga (she/her), newlywed, Mrs. McQueen, transitioned to Manhattan after being an 11-year resident of Atlanta. As the first LGBTQ+ liaison in Georgia as appointed by State Representative Park Cannon of District 58 in January 2018 and parted from the position in September 2022, during that time Jennifer Barnes-Balenciaga has been the contributor to many Atlanta political and governmental legislation such as HB290, has collaborated to commemorate many Georgia LGBTQ+ leaders, including Miss Lawrence Balenciaga, and helps lead many queer movements within her community (World AIDS Day events, HIV testing initiatives, Black/LGBTQ+Pride/rallies, etc.).
She is currently the Director of the Crystal La’Beija Organizing Fellowship (CLOF), was an on-the-ground HIV Prevention Specialist, and continues to act as a volunteer around many HIV-related initiatives. Jennifer has also been a Youth Policy HIV Advisor for Georgia Equality and has presented at many HIV-related conferences, such as NAESM, USCA, and even at congressional gatherings through AIDSWatch. The multi-awarded Barnes-Balenciaga hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, and has been seen on Season 2 of POSE FX. She has been published in many distinguished publications, such as The New York Times, TEENVogue, Harvard Public Health & VeryWellHealth, to name a few.
She holds numerous organizational and committee affiliations: newly mayoral appointed Commissioner for NYC Commission on Gender Equity (CGE), Co-Investigator for RESPND-MI (MPX-NYC), Vice President of Cincinnati Black Pride, Social Media Committee Chair for Sankofa Black Women’s Conference, and is a member of the illustrious House of Balenciaga, a leading institution in the House and Ballroom Scene.
She recently graduated from BMCC, on the Dean’s List, with an AA in Political Science and is now attending Baruch College to finish her BA in Political Science with a Law Minor.