Randall Jenson is a queer, multiracial artist of color and the Creator and Director of SocialScope Productions, a consulting and coaching company focused on LGBTQ multimedia projects, cultural awareness and innovative youth program design models. For the past 16 years, he has worked closely with street-based youth,, youth of color and LGBTQ youth and in the fields of youth programming and anti-violence advocacy. Randall currently works as the LGBTQ Program Development Consultant and Trainer for Cornerstones of Care, the Program Director for Transformations, a Kansas City transgender and gender non-conforming youth social and support group, and is part of the consulting team for The DB Approach, which provides cultural competency consulting, training and policy development to select non-profits on an annual Kansas City TA cultural competency grant.
Randall’s intersectional documentary projects have been awarded multiple awards, including “outstanding anthropological work” by the Association for Queer Anthropology (2010) and the Third Wave Mobilize Power Fund (2016) and Kansas City Rocket Grant (2016). These recent grants helped fund the startup of both the KC transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) youth group and KC TGNC Summit: building a leadership fountain for TGNC youth and TGNC people of color. Randall is a published writer, having been featured in “BOYS: An Anthology,” and a blogger for The Huffington Post, Out Magazine, Bitch Media, The Advocate. In 2015, Randall was appointed as the lead advocate to help loved ones and their communities cope and heal from 3 LGBTQ homicides in Kansas City. He previously worked as the Manager of Youth Services for the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project, providing multi-state advocacy directly to LGBTQ youth affected by trauma and violence, as well as the LGBTQ Youth Advocate at Safe Connections in St. Louis, helping build the first regional LGBTQ youth anti-violence program.
Randall has received national awards for his leadership and work with young people and homeless and vulnerable youth, racial justice advocacy, addressing the juvenile legal system and media’s impact on queer lives. Through his work as an anti-violence advocate, has keynoted Yale University’s “Pride Month” series in 2016, “Sexual Assault Awareness Month” for University of Iowa in 2015, as well as “Take Back the Night” at Southern Oregon University in 2015. Randall’s work as an artist and documentary filmmaker has allowed been featured at The Nelson Museum of Art, Missouri History Museum, MIX: New York’s Queer Experimental Film Festival, and have headlined Seattle Pride in 2017 and the 2010 and 2012 Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender and Ally Collegiate Conferences (MBLGTACC). He was awarded the 2003 Jim Hoefer Community Service award for creating the “Youth Advisory Board” – the first ever LGBTQ youth teen social justice group – by St. Louis Pride, a featured speaker at the 2003 National ACLU Membership Conference in Washington D.C., featured in 2006 on The Oprah Show and awarded the “Youth Impact Award” by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition.