$10,000 Operational funding for a part-time outreach specialist to spread awareness of new HIV/PrEP/PEP/Hep C/STD medical services available to disadvantaged subpopulations of the Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties' LGBTQ community. Primary target population is 1) at or below 200% federal poverty level and 2) minority who may qualify for care at zero out-of-pocket cost. Funding will kick-start a permanent outreach specialist position that the clinic aims to self-fund after six months of operation.
$10,000 Project support for training area health care providers on an expanded selection of topics to increase the number of LGBTQ+ competent providers. The project will also upgrade a current referral webpage for LGBTQ+ friendly health care and social service providers, The Purple Pages of El Paso (PPOE). The project’s overarching goals include: increased access to training for mental and physical health providers about LGBTQ+ focused and HIV/STD related topics and increased access to referrals to affirming health care providers.
$4,000 Project support for an LGBTQIA+ Student Leadership Summit designed to engage 300 students, parents, educators, and volunteers in bringing knowledge, awareness, and relationship building around LGBTQIA+ topics into the Austin community with the intention of breaking down systemic barriers by providing students, families, and educators with access to like-minded peers, adults, and organizations.
$7,500 Project support for the 8th Annual Gender Infinity Conference, an affirming space for families, learners, advocates, and providers to advance relationships, knowledge, and resources that empower gender diverse individuals. Funding is designated for intersectional training among board and organizational leadership; continuing education credits for providers of mental, behavioral and medical health; programming for transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, gender non-conforming, and expansive teens, tweens, and kids during the conference; and for the annual Family Meet and Greet.
$2,500 Operational support to increase the number of Transgender and Gender Non Binary patients receiving care, empowering the patient to take charge of their sexual health needs and providing supportive behavior health resources, benefitting the TGNB community by fostering a judgement-free and patient centered medical environment and building trust with the community by meeting multiple needs in one place. Data gleaned from this project will also be used as pilot data for larger state, region, and national grants to extend the services to better meet the health needs of the local TGNB community.
$10,000 Project support for a March 2019 Greater Beaumont area summit during the National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week, providing education to the local community including corporations, academia, and other community stakeholders with the goals of reducing disparities and diminishing isolation for members of the LGBTQ community. The goal is that this becomes an annual event by connecting a cross section of corporations, academia and community stakeholders to help begin to cultivate a culture of inclusiveness in the rural tri-county area with the hope of diminishing the feeling of isolation for members of the LGBTQ community and improving disparities.
$9,000 Funding for a new TPIF Therapeutic Group project for positive gay men in crisis, most of whom are newly diagnosed with HIV. The project is designed to facilitate access to care, ongoing accountability for treatment and mental health improvement, increased knowledge about HIV, and supportive fellowship for a heavily-impacted, ever-growing group of positive people in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
$5,000 Operational support to Lesbian Health Initiative of Houston (LHI), an organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to healthcare and promoting health and wellness for LGBT+ women, transgender and non-binary communities through collaborative and integrated Education, Access and Advocacy programs. The use of LHI as an intermediary between clients and healthcare providers reduces client fear – the primary inhibitor to the LGBT+ women, transgender, and non-binary communities accessing healthcare. Other inhibitors, such as transportation costs are offset by LHI’s transportation and copay/screening vouchers.
$8,000 A Hatch Youth project by the Montrose Center in support of NEST, a Houston area effort to prevent and end homelessness among adolescents and young adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning by 2020. The project aims to provide rapid rehousing and wrap around services to support the goal of self-sufficiency, as defined as the ability to pay rent, utilities, and cover most expenses such as food and clothes. This outcome is projected to be achieved through street outreach interventions and the maintenance of a full caseload of youth receiving rapid rehousing services.
$10,000 In coordination with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Midland, a project and symposium to train medical, legal, mental health, and educational providers of the West Texas region in professional competencies associated with working with transgender clients, as well as to provide training in transgender affirming practices.
$9,000 Operational support for the LGBTQ Transitional Living Program designed to change the lives of homeless youth by empowering them to become independent adults and to gain resilience and self-acceptance. The welcoming and affirming group home provides LGBTQ certified counselors, access to educational and employment services, life skills training and connections to community-based LGBTQ organizations (social and faith based).
$10,000 Project support to help expand one-of-a-kind programs and activities that aim to decrease high-risk behaviors, decrease social isolation, and improve self-esteem among North Texas middle and high school LGBTQ youth, ages 12 to 18, of all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
$5,000 Project support to expand existing stakeholder relationships and formalize local transgender support group and hospital engagement in Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, and Jefferson and El Paso counties. A pilot project intended to establish a blueprint for state-wide expansion to advance cultural competency of medical staff and hospital processes for transgender clients and the full LGBTQ community.
$10,000 Project support to employ a Community Mobilization Coordinator to organize the organizations’ 2019 PRIDE in the Park, a family-oriented event that attracts up to 5,000 attendees. The LGBTQ+ population in the Rio Grande Valley often feel isolated and alone in a cultural environment that values machismo and religion over acceptance. The centrally located event in McAllen helps counter the geographic isolation, cultural and faith-based stigma combined with extremely limited public transportation, making connecting with other LGBTQ+ individuals difficult in this region where the vast majority reside in non-urban areas.
$10,000 Capacity building operational grant for LGBTQ-affirming mental health counseling, including individual, couples, family and group therapy. With six licensed, highly-trained, and affirming staff therapists who are members of the LGBTQ community and a waiting list as large as 75 to 100 people, Waterloo accepts many major forms of insurance, including Marketplace plans, Medicaid, and Medicaremaintains a sliding scale fee schedule for clients who do not have insurance, based on increments of the federal poverty level up to 400% of poverty.