R.I. Foundation awards $50K to groups serving LGBTQ communities

THE RHODE Island Foundation has awarded more than $50,000 in grants to seven nonprofit organizations that assist and support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer  communities of Rhode Island.
THE RHODE Island Foundation has awarded more than $50,000 in grants to seven nonprofit organizations that assist and support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities of Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation has awarded more than $50,000 in grants to seven nonprofit organizations that assist and support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities of Rhode Island.
Grants are provided through the Equity Action Fund and the money awarded will fund services such as wellness programs and domestic violence prevention for Rhode Island’s LGBTQ communities, according to a news release from the foundation issued Thursday.
Grants are awarded as follows:

  • $10,000 to Project Weber/RENEW to help to extend a pilot program that reaches out to transgender sex workers. According to Colleen Daley Ndoye, executive director, the program’s goal is to ensure their transgender clients are able to access necessary health, prevention and recovery services.

    “We target both the physical streets of Providence, as well as the invisible ‘streets’ of hook-up apps. Our goal is to ensure that clients, particularly transgender clients, do not fall through the cracks,” Ndoye said in a statement.

  • $10,000 to Youth Pride to expand and improve its program, Gay Straight Alliance. The GSA is a coalition consisting of youth members from other GSAs in the state and Youth Pride intends on convening with these members in monthly meetings in order to increase outreach to local gay/straight alliances and offer regional GSA programming.
  • $8,000 to Sojourner House to increase the accessibility of intimate partner violence services for LGBTQ victims, to make more community-based organizations knowledgeable about and more equipped to respond to such violence, and to make more students aware and more comfortable with LGBTQ and trans issues.
  • $7,400 to Thundermist Health to support its Trans* Health and Wellness Program, allowing the organization to expand its individual and group behavioral health services and offer innovative, cultural wellness programs for transgender Rhode Islanders and their families so as to improve their physical and mental health and wellness.
  • $2,000 for The Newport Film/Video Society & Arts Collaborative, Flickers, which will fund its Forward Movement Program. The program offers the screening of LGBTQ films, new film appreciation and film mentorship and an annual LGBTQ Film Festival Summit.

Equity Action, guided by a volunteer advisory committee comprised of community leaders, states it is committed to enacting social change by encouraging the support and improvement of the quality of life for LGBTQ Rhode Islanders through initiatives and organizations.
The Rhode Island Foundation is known for funding nonprofit organizations in the state. The foundation says it is the largest foundation in the state, having awarded $41.5 million in grants to nonprofits in 2015 alone.
For information about the Equity Action Fund or the other funds the Rhode Island Foundation oversees or to donate, visit www.rifoundation.org.

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