about lost-n-found youth

Lost-n-Found Youth is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that exists to end homelessness for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) and all sexual minority youth.

 Our Mission

To end homelessness for all LGBTQ+ youth by providing them with
the skills and support needed to live independently.

Our Vision

We envision a world where all youth feel safe and supported to live and love authentically.

OUr Story

Lost-n-Found Youth was started by a group of local Atlanta activists. They were turned away when attempting to place queer youth into local shelters and youth aid programs, and resolved that something needed to be done to address the immediate need.

They called a public town hall meeting and invited these local unhoused youth support agencies to express outrage and determine what resources existed. The meeting made clear that no organization was specifically actively working to take unhoused LGBTQ+ youth off the street. The group assembled in November 2011 to establish a privately funded emergency shelter, and the Saint Lost and Found project (now Lost-n-Found Youth, Inc.) was born.

Lost-N-Found Youth Executive Team

Melanea Alvarez

Executive Director

Melanea is originally from OH-IO, the Buckeye state. She relocated to Georgia in 2014 when she accepted a senior HR leadership role with a local financial institution. Throughout her career, Melanea has held leading roles with fortune 500 consulting firms spearheading global and domestic client engagements across various industries. Her expertise is in HR Transformation with a keen sense for business development, operational excellence, strategic planning, and technology. Prior to becoming the executive director for the Atlanta nonprofit, Melanea was a highly active volunteer for the organization, later becoming a board member and ultimately the board chair for two consecutive terms. Melanea wears many hats and leaves no stone unturned when it comes to supporting youth and community, she is passionate about giving youth choices and resources to help build their future so they may live independently.

Neena Beausoleil

Director of Programs

Before her role as Director of Programs at Lost-n-Found Youth, Neena Beausoleil was a devoted advocate for houseless youth in Los Angeles for nearly a decade. As program manager at Youth Emerging Stronger, (formerly the LA Youth Network) Neena helped develop and manage a six-bed Runaway Homeless Youth shelter for minors. In expanding the mission of the agency, she helped secure grant funding, development, and management of a twenty-three bed Transitional Living Program with scattered site apartments aimed at promoting self-sufficiency for young adults ages 18-25 years in the Hollywood area. 

Notable achievements include the successful transition of more than 70% of young adult clients into permanency and into their own apartments and the provision of a Safe Space for 40% of LGBTQIA+ young adults enrolled in the program. Neena helped develop holistic program tracks to promote successful case planning that builds on the strengths of the individual. Neena is committed to the highest standards of service provision and was influential in the successful national accreditation (CARF) of her previous agency’s housing program. 

Neena has extensive experience working with LGBTQIA+ and at-risk houseless young adult populations. Neena believes that a trauma-informed care approach helps young adults achieve their goals while working towards self-sufficiency. Neena’s favorite time spent with her client’s is teaching and demonstrating to them important life skills. 

Obtaining her MSW in 2006, Neena has worked in several capacities as a social worker including foster care and adoptions, community service programs, counseling, and outreach services.In her personal time Neena loves to spend time with family, try new cooking recipes and travel to beaches and hiking trails. She is passionate about women’s, immigrant and LGBTQIA+ rights and equality.

2025 Lost-n-found Youth Board of Directors:

  • 2025 Board Chair

    Kevin is the Director Community Care Foundation for Delta Dental

  • 2025 Vice Chair

    Roger Rutkowski moved to the USA in 2017 from the United Kingdom and is currently Head of Legal Operations for Mercedes-Benz USA. In the UK Roger was National Records Manager for AECOM for 7 years and then Head of Information Governance for The British Land Company for 10 years as well as Patron for The Albert Kennedy Trust and Co-Chair for Building Pride the LGBT group for Property.

    In 2021 Roger founded the Atlanta Socializers Club which has grown to over 3k members in midtown and we meets regularly to raise money for Lost-n-Found Youth.

  • 2025 Board Governance Chair

    Cameron Turner is a dynamic transformational leader and seasoned governance expert with a deep commitment to empowering marginalized communities, particularly LGBTQ+ youth. Growing up in Atlanta, Cameron experienced firsthand the challenges of navigating identity in a conservative environment, which has driven his passion for creating safe spaces and critical resources for vulnerable individuals. His connection to Lost-n-Found Youth's mission to support LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness is both personal and profound.

    As the Senior Compliance Manager at PTC, Cameron brings over a decade of expertise in governance, organizational strategy, and compliance. He has successfully led high-performing teams to implement robust governance frameworks and achieve impactful results across industries. His certifications in ISO, SOC, NIST, and more reflect a deep technical acumen paired with strategic vision.

    Cameron has served on several boards and councils, including the Tomorrow's Luminaries Foundation and various cloud service provider governance boards, where he has driven strategic enablement, policy development, and community advocacy. His professional achievements are matched by his personal dedication to fostering growth, as evidenced by his mentoring initiatives and efforts to elevate organizational impact through effective governance.

    Cameron's vision for Lost-n-Found Youth includes strengthening its operational resilience, enhancing community engagement, and driving strategic initiatives like governance training and compliance-focused policies. He aims to combine professional expertise and personal empathy to advance the organization's mission of empowering youth to overcome barriers and thrive.

  • 2025 Board Treasurer

    Head of Client and Payment Products, talech

    As the Head of Client and Payment Products for talech, a subsidiary of U.S. Bank, Isaac Wilcox brings over 10 years of experience in merchant services, building an effective product management organization that grew the small business point-of-sale portfolio by 5x over the past 4 years.

    With over 20 years of experience with mobile and SaaS technologies, in addition to his time with U.S. Bank, Isaac has played a pivotal role working for companies including IBM, Nokia, and VMWare. Outside of his primary responsibilities, Isaac also serves as a member of the Black Leadership Council in the U.S. Bank Merchant Payment Services business unit.

    Isaac holds a Master of Science in software engineering from Southern Polytechnic State University and an MBA from the University of Manchester Business School. In addition, he has an executive scholar certificate from Northwestern Kellogg for its Chief Product Officer program, and certificates from the Management Leadership for Tomorrow Career Advancement Program and the McKinsey Management Accelerator Program.

    Having grown up in Charlotte, NC, Isaac has now lived in Atlanta, GA for 25 years.

    In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his two children, traveling, eating fancy cuisine and practicing karate as a first-degree black belt.

  • 2025 Board Secretary

    Meet Sean Drumm, newly elected Board Secretary at Lost-n-Found Youth—an advocate, a problem-solver, and a firm believer in the power of intersectionality and radical inclusion.  With an eclectic background that spans insurance, law, education, and leadership Sean works as a Senior Analyst at Hiscox USA.  He specializes in building inclusive systems that lift people up and dismantling systems that do not. He has fiercely advocated for LGBTQ+ youth for 25 years and has been engaged in activism since his teenage years.  Former President of the Dean College LGBTQ Alliance and former President of OUTLAW the association of LGBTQ+ Law Students at Georgia State University today he serves as Board Secretary for the Hiscox Foundation USA and Co-Chair of Hiscox Pride ERG.  We’re proud to have Sean as a part of Lost-n-Found Youth.

  • Ex-Officio

    Melanea is the current executive director of Lost-n-Found Youth

  • Director

    Taylor Lauren Miller serves as a Board Member for Lost-n-Found Youth to ensure all unhoused LGBTQ+ youth in Atlanta have the services they need to thrive and a home where they belong.

    Taylor began as an Internal Compliance Analyst nine years ago at ADP, and quickly realized her passion for information security. She took on the responsibility of Local Business Security Champion two years later – managing security incidents from identification to remediation. In 2019, she was promoted to Business Security Analyst, to serve as the first dedicated security champion for National Accounts (NAS) laying the foundation for the new NAS security team; responsible for evolving the business and fraud incident processes, counseling teams across the business in accordance with current security frameworks and ADP best-practices, partnering with the Global Security Organization to ensure rapid resolution of high-impact incidents, designing the security awareness program, and coordinating with the data team to drive executive reporting automation. In 2021, Taylor was promoted to Information Security Lead Project/Program Manager for a growing Security, Compliance, Business Resiliency, Risk, and Privacy team where she leads the Security team to design and drive the defense-in-depth strategy for National Accounts.

  • Director

    Patrick is a Scientist/Director, Business Development for Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp.

    A native of the state, Patrick grew up in Dalton, Georgia about 90 miles north of Atlanta. After developing a love for science at an early age, he went on to earn a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia. A fascination in biomedical research then led him to the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana where he earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Raber focused his time there on cancer research to better understand the mechanisms of immune system suppression by solid tumors and methods to optimize adoptive cellular immunotherapies. Following grad school, Patrick joined a Seattle-based biotechnology startup, Adaptive Biotechnologies, helping to grow the company and becoming a global subject matter expert in the field of immunosequencing and immunogenetics. Dr. Raber eventually transitioned into the business of science and now leads a business development that partners with major pharma and biotech companies world-wide. He first became aware of Lost-n-Found Youth after moving to Atlanta in 2015 initially supporting the organization through thrift store donations and charity events and was invited to join the Board of Directors in 2022. Patrick currently lives in Midtown Atlanta with his partner Paul. They enjoy traveling, hiking, and exploring their diverse and dynamic Atlanta community.

  • Director

 Our funding reflects the generosity of our community and we are committed to using donor dollars wisely in order to provide the best for our clients.

Lost-n-Found Youth is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit corporation that secures support and funding for Atlanta’s houseless LGBTQ+ youth.

find us in the news

Lost-n-Found Youth has been featured in various media outlets, highlighting our dedicated efforts to provide shelter, resources, and support to those in need.