Roman Valine spent his fall semester as a Mann Child Policy Extern at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ community members through advocacy, education, support, and celebration. During his externship, Roman supported the Center’s advocacy team by conducting research into local, state, and federal-level policies affecting children and adolescents in the LGBTQ+ community. He wrote policy breakdowns to make them more accessible to a general audience, helped design educational advocacy infographics, and worked with the advocacy team to propose improvements to existing county-level laws. Roman also completed his undergraduate Capstone in connection with his externship, conducting qualitative research on the impact of gender-affirming care restrictions on transgender and nonbinary adolescents in Cleveland; his work combined a literature review of prior research on the experiences of transgender people with a thematic analysis of nine interviews he conducted. Roman’s Capstone has served to guide the efforts of the LGBT Center’s education and advocacy teams in supporting the local transgender community, particularly in regard to gender diverse youth.
After graduating with his bachelor’s in psychology and medical anthropology in Spring ‘26, Roman plans to pursue a master’s degree to become a youth social worker. This externship has strengthened his skills in policy work and solidified his desire to pursue a career dedicated to improving the lives of children and adolescents, especially those from marginalized populations such as the LGBTQ+ community.