A ninth grader in Mission, Texas is bringing a queer youth conference to his rural hometown after winning a $10,000 grant from the nonprofit group It Gets Better. Mars Gamez told TODAY that he was inspired to apply for one of the LGBTQ advocacy group’s “50 States, 50 Grants, 5,000 Voices” initiative after learning about them from his club advisor Alexander Hernandez and seeing the program advertised online. The initiative, in partnership with American Eagle, aims to provide fifty grants to student projects.