Dev Hayostek is among the 2024 Bright Young People recognized by a Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ organization

Dev Hayostek was honored in May as one of Pittsburgh’s Bright Young People for 2024, an award he hopes will highlight the important work being done by Pitt’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Office.

Hayostek (SOC WK ’23G) was recognized during the Allies for Health and Wellbeing’s annual Free for All banquet, formerly known as the Allies Ball, held at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

“In this past year, we’ve been able to engage with probably 14,000 people in various sorts of trainings and outreach programs,” said Hayostek, who serves as lead prevention educator for the Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Office, also known as Prevention at Pitt. “Sexual violence prevention is not a fun topic. We’ve been able to take some risks to make this work more accessible, such as with a Taylor Swift-themed event or a Beyonce-themed event, to encourage folks to join the conversation.”

Allies is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that provides high-quality integrated medical care and supportive human services with a focus on the LGBTQ+ community. The group evolved from the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force.

“The fact that it’s a community award means a lot to me, because I’m being recognized as someone who’s out and proud and doing good work,” Hayostek said. “Visibility is super important right now, especially given the climate that we’re in.”

Prior to being hired full-time in OEDI, Hayostek helped develop the Circle Up education and outreach program while completing his master’s degree at Pitt. Along with Carrie Benson, Pitt’s director of sexual violence prevention and education, Hayostek helped develop the Prevention at Pitt branding and is part of the rapid growth in outreach and education designed to reduce sexual harassment, intimate partner violence and sexual misconduct on the University’s campuses.

“I love our office, I love our team and I love that we can all show up as who we are,” Hayostek said. “I’m proud of how we’ve grown, both with student workers and our professional staff.”

In 2023, the Prevention at Pitt team was awarded $500,000 in a Pitt SEED grant from the Office of the Chancellor to expand the scope and depth of its work.

A licensed social worker since 2023, Hayostek earned a bachelor’s degree in integrative arts from Pennsylvania State University and previously worked in leadership, training and development roles in the retail industry. Hayostek’s areas of expertise include emotional intelligence and leadership; sexual orientation, gender identity and expression; LGBTQIA+ history and rights; psychiatric disabilities and mental health; fat justice and body inclusivity; and systematic racism.

The Allies’ Bright Young People awards recognize individuals who are making an impact in the community in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion through their professional work, art, or activism. Also honored at the May 3 event was Stavroula “Stavi” Xinos, a master’s degree candidate in Pitt’s School of Social Work.

— Jason Togyer, photography provided by Dev Hayostek