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Mayor Bowser Announces FY2018 LGBTQ Community Grant Awards

Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Grants Awarded to Six Organizations Serving the District’s LGBTQ Community

(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 six community-based organizations that serve LGBTQ homeless youth and families 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 $10,000 and $15,000.

“We look forward to partnering with these community organizations to serve the needs of our LGBTQ youth,” said Mayor Bowser. “Our DC values include making homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring, and we will continue this work until every resident has a safe place to call home.”

The Fiscal Year 2018 LGBTQ Community Grant awardees are:

  • Anacostia Coordinating Council will provide peer mentoring and coaching, linking youth with supportive services to transition out of homelessness.
  • Metro DC Community Center Inc. will help eliminate barriers that LGBTQ youth face to achieve gainful employment through job readiness training.
  • The Wanda Alston Foundation will provide mental health and wellness services to clients who are facing homelessness.
  • Total Family Care Coalition will provide youth peer support to encourage family reconciliation to homeless LGBTQ youth and young adults through family/natural support.
  • Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. will implement their TransDimensional Youth Mentor Program.
  • Young Playwrights’ Theater, Inc. will provide an environment that pursues social justice through performing arts.

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 and implementation of the 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.