LGBTQ Community Fund Awards a total of $107,000 to five local agencies

Community Foundation of Northeast Florida
Press Release
Contact: Susan Datz Edelman
VP, Strategic Communication
[email protected]
December 1, 2021

The LGBTQ Community Fund Awards a Total of $107,000 to Five Local Agencies

Services supported include mental health, aging, professional development, and emergency services

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – November 30, 2021 – The LGBTQ Community Fund for Northeast Florida approved $107,000 in grants to five local nonprofits in its continuing quest to build a community that welcomes and supports all people. Grantees will be funded from December 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.

“We were delighted to receive so many grant applications that responded to the Fund’s Advisory Board priorities to ‘build greater togetherness within our LGBTQ communities’ and to ‘support Northeast Florida welcoming and celebrating its LGBTQ Population’,” said Kathleen Shaw, M. Ed., Vice President, Programs for The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, which houses the LGBTQ Community Fund. “We are grateful to the Fund’s donors for their gifts which allowed us to award more than $100,000 to respond to those priorities.”

The Fund’s Advisory Board also placed a premium on programs that benefitted aging adults, Black/African-Americans, gender minorities and youth.

Grants for the upcoming year include:

Children’s Home Society | $13,000 to expand the number of SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression) support groups for LGBTQIA+ youth and allies using an eight-week structured mental health curriculum.
ElderSource | $19,000 to create virtual presentations available in Northeast Florida on how to prepare for the necessary decisions needed to age well as an LGBTQ adult (e.g. health, legal choices, and asset protection).
Equality Florida Institute | $25,000 to expand its Safe and Healthy Schools program in Northeast Florida (Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties) working with school districts to provide professional development training and supporting Gay/Straight Alliances
Women’s Center of Jacksonville | $25,000 to provide counseling services to approximately 45 women, ages 13+, who identify as lesbian, bi-sexual and trans women in Duval, Nassau, and Baker Counties (in-person) as well as telehealth in Clay and St. Johns Counties.
Youth Crisis Center | $25,000 to expand the House of Hope program—a gender-neutral emergency shelter designed for LGBTQ individuals ages 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness. It opened in December 2020.

“It’s been ten years since The Community Foundation, at a donor’s request, began exploring the need for philanthropic support of the LGBTQ community in Northeast Florida,” noted Dr. Joseph Barton, outgoing president of the LGBTQ Community Fund’s advisory board. “We have become an important part of the funding ecosystem for these agencies who are working so hard to support our families, friends and co-workers who may be struggling or in need of assistance.”

Barton has chaired the LGBTQ Community Advisory Board since 2019. In 2022, Glenn Miller will take over the leadership of the Advisory Board. Miller has headed up the LGBTQ Community Fund grantmaking responsibilities for many years.

The LGBTQ Community Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida

The LGBTQ Community Fund for Northeast Florida, housed at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, has awarded nearly $800,000 since it began making grants in 2014—including substantial grants to organizations representing LGBTQ Youth, LGBTQ elders and LGBTQ on-campus services—which were areas identified by research as significant opportunities for assistance. The Fund has also invested $168,000 in local research and convenings to improve the lives of those in the LGBTQ community. In 2021, The LGBTQ Community Fund underwrote The Many Sides of Pride Film Festival in conjunction with MOCA Jacksonville. For more information: www.jaxcf.org/lgbtq

About The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida

The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida (www.jaxcf.org), Florida’s oldest and largest community foundation, works to stimulate philanthropy to build a better community. The Foundation helps donors invest their philanthropic gifts wisely, helps nonprofits serve the region effectively, and helps people come together to make the community a better place. Created in 1964, the Foundation has assets of $550 million and has made approximately $600 million in grants since inception.

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Contact: Susan Datz Edelman

VP, Strategic Communications

904-356-4483 | [email protected]