THE LGBTQCOMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND

2015 GRANT REPORT SUMMARIES

Supported by members of Utah’s LGBTQcommunity and their allies, the LGBTQ Endowment Fund is one of many demonstrations of the invaluable financial, artistic, and intellectual contributions made by gay and lesbian Utahans, making our state a better place for us all. While the Endowment Fund does not exclusively support organizations that serve the state’s LGBT population, grantees ensure that they have nondiscriminatory practices in place.

2015 GRANT RECIPIENTS

  • J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah- for the expansion of holdings of Kristen Ries/Maggie Snyder History of HIV/AIDS in Utah Collection
  • Office of Inclusion and Outreach, University of Utah- for the Annual Health Care Provider Summit: Expanding the Knowledge of LGBT Healthcare
  • Utah Pride Center- for Moab Pride and a Community Needs Assessment
  • Youth Futures Shelter Home- for General Operating Support
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah- for the LGBT Mentors Program
  • Senior Charity Care Foundation- for Financial Assistance For Medical and Dental Care for LGBT Seniors
  • Westminster College- for an LGBT Programming Intern
  • OUTreach Resource Centers- for the Drop –In Center in Ogden
  • Utah Museum of Contemporary Art- for the Out Loud Mentoring Program
  • Equality Utah- for the Harvey Milk Leadership Training Academy
  • Utah Film Center- for the Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival
  • Pioneer Craft House-for Senior LGBT Adult Arts & Crafts Classes

IMPACT REPORTS

The following reports describe the 2015 grantees’ use of the provided funds and the resulting impact of their programs on the community.

J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

Kristen Ries/Maggie Snyder History of HIV/AIDS in Utah Collection - $5,000

The project was meant to collect and archive documents and expand the oral histories pertaining to the fight against HIV/AIDS in Utah. The project has done just that, interviews have been held and are being transcribed and incorporated into the library to be a resource for patrons as intended.

Funds were used to collect and archive documents and oral histories pertaining to the fight against HIV/AIDS, digitizing these oral histories and making them available for patrons. Six interviews have been completed beyond the initial interviews with Dr. Ries and Ms. Snyder. These interviews are being transcribed and admitted into the collection at the J. Willard Marriott Library.

Utah Pride Center

Moab Pride and Queer Prom - $5,000

2015 Moab Pride had over 5,000 participants, giving the small rural town an opportunity for those in the LGBTQ community to express themselves and celebrate their diversity. It also allowed for the allied community to come together to share in celebration and support of their LGBTQ neighbors. Information shared at this event provides those outside the LGBTQ community a chance to better understand the needs and challenges faced by the community. It also provided information and resources for those in this small town seeking help with issues they may face in relation to the LGBTQ issues.

2016 Queer Prom had over 800 youth ages 14-20 in attendance. This is a highly anticipated event each year as youth from along the Wasatch Front get the opportunity to attend a formalized prom, bringing the desired date of choice without fear of rejection or ridicule. The youth attend in prom wear that makes them the most comfortable and expresses their true beings. The energy is high as the youth see and feel the acceptance and warmth at the event, knowing they can be their authentic selves. During the event, the attendees fill out a needs survey which helps our Center identify the varying needs among the LGBTQ youth in our communities. This information allows us to develop and provide services and programs to meet those needs, and continue to provide safe, affirming events for them year-round.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Utah (BBBSU)

Mentoring program - $4,000

BBBSU facilitated quality one-to-one mentoring relationships between mentors who identify with the LGBT community and disadvantaged Utah youth in BBBSU's Mentoring Programs.

•In 2014, 92% of the children we served were from low-to-moderate income families, and 63% of children were members of a racial or ethnicminority.

•69% of our Community-Based and 46% of our School-Based matches were together forat least 12 months in2014.

•Community-Based matches last 29 months and our School-Based matches last 18months.

The following match story involves Big Brother Jake, a volunteer who identifies with the LGBT community, and his Little Brother James. Names have been altered to maintain confidentiality.

Little Brother James has been matched with his Big Brother Jake for nearly two years. According to James' mother, he is a difficult child and has a hard time accepting, loving and adjusting to people. Mom said since Jake and James were matched, she has noticed that his Big Brother has made a positive change in James' life. James has become a happy child, and has developed a meaningful relationship with his Big Brother. Before the match, James would make excuses not to finish homework or participate in activities. His mom recalls a time when James refused to work on a school project, Jake happened to call during the discussion. A few minutes later, Jake was at James' home encouraging his Little Brother to work on his assignment. Jake did not leave until the project was complete. Jake is the type of person who will follow through and drop everything to help James out. Jake has become part of the family, and mom and James are happy to interact with such an exceptional person.

Westminster College

LGBT programming intern - $3,000

Westminster College LGBT Programming Internwas able to complete the Gender Neutral Bathroom initiative she spearheaded, having over 30 restrooms revealed, including within residence halls.

UMOCA

OutLoudMentoring Program - $2,500

UMOCA was thrilled with the outcome of the 10-week educational outreach program this year. Goals and objectives for this year’sOut Loudprogram included:

  • Learn about different ways that contemporary artists use a variety of mediums to explore issues faced by the LGBTQ community
  • Reflect on methods and create artworks that express their own personal experiences and how LGBTQ issues affect their lives
  • Promote discussion of these ideas among classmates and at their school
  • Forge relationships with other LGBTQ youth to create a community of understanding and support for each other

Pioneer Craft House

Senior LGBT Adult Arts & Crafts Classes - $1,000

Pioneer Craft House was delighted that ten members of Utah SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) community enjoyed taking twelve classes from five of Craft House’s artisan-instructors—including Native American-style flute-making, silversmithing / lapidary / lost-wax casting, and pottery. Two students each took two pottery classes.

In addition to thoroughly enjoying SAGE community members as students, Craft House / PCH accomplished these specific grant application details: 1. Orienting board and instructors at PCH in the needs of senior LGBT students, 2. Providing (additional) cultural competency training for PCH’s (already broad-minded and diversity-oriented) artisan-instructors, 3. Creating a new creative outlet option for LGBT seniors through PCH.

Youth Futures Shelter Home

General Operating Support - $5,000

From February 20, 2015 to March 31, 2016, Youth Futures program services included:

  • 1,535 shelter night stays and 511 drop in services including case management, connections to health care, mental health care and group therapy, facilitation with other youth service providers, computer access, showers, laundry facilities, etc.
  • Served 7,085 meals; 3 meals a day and 2 snacks for shelter and drop-in youth
  • Opened the resource room 354 times with access to basic necessities including clothing, hygiene items, back packs, blankets, sleeping bags, basic medical supplies, etc.
  • 651 times a youth has presented for drop-in services. (This is not an unduplicated number, some of these youth have presented multiple times for drop-in services)
  • Conducted more than 245 street outreach hours and provided items from the resource room to street youth.

OUTreach Resource Centers

Drop –In Center in Ogden - $3,000

OUTreach served over 500 individual youth in four drop-in centers with over 250 coming to Ogden alone. Youth received a variety of programming options, food and other basic needs items, and most importantly, they found acceptance and understanding. Given the negative effects of family and community rejection or hostility, having an affirming and accepting place to go can make a life or death difference for the youth who come to the centers.

Senior Charity Care Foundation

Financial Assistance For Medical and Dental Care for LGBT Seniors - $3,000

Fifteen qualifying seniors (ages 55+ with incomes 200% of the federal poverty level or below, who are uninsured, and live in care facilities or senior apartments within Utah, Weber, Davis and Salt Lake Counties) were provided access to dental care, denture realignments and denture replacement, which are not covered by Medicaid.

Utah Film Center

Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival - $1,500

2015 Damn These Heels LGBT Film Festival saw 2,896 attendees at its 22 film screenings. Additional pass holders attended our pre-film reception and closing night party.We successfully met our goals to:

-Provide content to festival-goers that is not available through commercial venues. (All films shown had not had theatrical releases at the time of our Festival.)

-Build audiences year-round for LGBT programming and outreach. (Many who are currently regular attendees of our free, monthly Damn These Heels film screenings first found out about our programming by attending the 2015 Festival. We made sure to provide free screening tickets for the organizations to distribute to the community members they serve.)

-Collaborate with community groups. (Specifically, we worked with Equality Utah, Human Rights Campaign, Utah Pride Center, QUAC, and SLCC Community Writing Center’s Gay Writes group for outreach and awareness.)

Equality Utah

Harvey Milk Leadership Training Academy - $2,000

The Harvey Milk Leadership Academy partnered with Wellstone Action to bring anintensive 3dayleadership in July of this year. The inaugural training had 25 attendees.

This program was designed from the ground up tonot only help progressive Utahns learn to run for office, but to help build sustainablegrassroots organizing here in Utah.For this particular program we partnered with Wellstone Action founded in 2002 to carryon Paul Wellstone’s legacy. Since then Wellstone Action has trained over 80,000progressive leaders, propelled 850 alumni into office and guided over 3,500 winningcampaigns.

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