Mayor Bowser Announces FY2019 LGBTQ Community Grant Awards

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, Mayor Bowser and the Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Affairs awarded a combined $75,000 in grant funding to eight community-based organizations that serve LGBTQ residents and LGBTQ residents experiencing homelessness in Washington, DC. The grants are intended to strengthen the organizational capacity, support leadership development, and ensure sustainability among nonprofits serving LGBTQ youth and young adults in DC. Grants were made in amounts between $5,000 and $15,000.

“We are proud to partner with these community-based organizations that are advancing DC values and helping us build a safer, stronger, and more inclusive Washington, DC,” said Mayor Bowser.

The Fiscal Year 2019 LGBTQ Community Grant awardees are:

• Breaking Ground (fiscal sponsor: SMYAL) will teach LGBTQ youth how to use the expressive power of storytelling to unpack experiences faced by the LGBTQ community.
• Casa Ruby will provide links to health and education to homeless women who identify as LGBTQ2+.
• Latin American Youth Center will provide emergency care and supplies to run away, homeless and unstably housed youth.
• Latino GLBT History Project will assist LGBTQ youth with attaining jobs through image consulting.
• Metro DC Community Center will assist LGBTQ youth with resources such as ID Card Assistance, storage units, and laundry services.
• The Wanda Alston Foundation will provide behavioral and mental health services to LGBTQ youth.
• Total Family Care Coalition will provide resources and support to help LGBTQ homeless youth reconnect with their family.
• Young Playwrights’ Theater, Inc.  pursues social justice through creative expression and theater.

The grant funding is aligned with the Bowser Administration’s priorities and is intended to enhance existing community programs focused on education, job and economic development, public safety, civic engagement, health and wellness, youth engagement, and arts and the creative economy. Organizations were selected based on the degree to which they meet these priorities and target their efforts toward underserved LGBTQ communities. Some current projects include: pursuing social justice by providing all young people with the opportunity to realize the power and value of their own voices; implementingthe TransDimensional Youth Mentor Program, an innovative six-month mentorship that provides peer mentoring and coaching, and links youth to supportive services and education and employment opportunities.