By Francisco O. Buchting–
Last year, as the LGBTQ community felt the impact of COVID-19, Horizons immediately jumped to action: We awarded over $1 million in emergency grants to Bay Area LGBTQ nonprofits responding to the pandemic.
Over a year and a half since the pandemic began, we continue to be inspired by the strength and resilience of our community. With as much compassion and ingenuity as ever, LGBTQ nonprofits haven’t slowed down—and neither has Horizons. Horizons’ own research and voices of community leaders clearly tell us that, notwithstanding the advent of vaccines, the pandemic and its impacts are far from over.
That’s why Horizons recently announced a quarter million dollars in additional grants from our LGBTQ Resilience and Recovery Fund—a continuation of our COVID-19 response—laser-focused on the most marginalized in the LGBTQ community.
Among the groups prioritized in this latest round of funding are LGBTQ people of color, transgender people, and people at the intersection of these identities. Somos Familia, for example, is hosting online Spanish-language check-ins and groups for Latino/a/x families with LGBTQ loved ones. San Mateo Pride Center is hosting workshops to connect transgender folks with resources throughout Silicon Valley and San Mateo County. And El/La Para TransLatinas is providing hygiene kits and gift cards to meet the basic needs of transgender Latinas.
We’re also providing targeted support to LGBTQ seniors, who still face greater isolation. Many are expressing concerns, as Delta spreads through their retirement homes, about their ability to see friends and family and about more and more closures forcing them to be alone. But with Horizons’ support, our grantee partners the Spahr Center, Solano Pride Center, and Openhouse are hosting virtual support groups and developing visitor programs to combat isolation and lift spirits.
LGBTQ youth, too, are prioritized in this round of funding; the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County and San Francisco LGBT Center, for example, are supporting unhoused LGBTQ youth with shelter and wraparound services.
We are deeply grateful for our 18 grantee partners and the donors who continue to give generously as we work together toward an eventual recovery from the pandemic.
Francisco O. Buchting is Horizons Foundation’s Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications. https://www.horizonsfoundation.org/
Published on September 23, 2021
Recent Comments