LGBTQ+ TA Center: We're Still Here! | | |
Hi Everyone,
This is Alex. I don’t typically write these newsletters myself, but the last few months have been unprecedented.
In our last newsletter, we shared our vision for reimagining the LGBTQ TA center offerings to support grantee sustainability in the changing federal funding landscape, and equipping teams with adaptive leadership strategies to navigate poly-crises so that we end with a strong finish for the last year of the project.
Like many folks, I did not anticipate our project being slated for cuts in the Governor's May Budget Revision. However, that development only further ignited our fight. It's an honor to be a part of a solid coalition of fierce advocates who did not take this news sitting down. Against the odds, and because of our collective effort, we are still here making the good work happen in July, 2025.
This newsletter is a showcase of our community’s wins during the Spring quarter, to help energize us for the months ahead. Read on for some of the highlights, and stay tuned for a new TA Spotlight in our Fall issue!
| |
Community News:
Spring Recap
| |
LGBTQ+ Hub Mapped the Impact of CDEPs at the CRDP Annual Convening
In April the LGBTQ+ hub came together for the 2025 CRDP annual convening, April 15 & 16 in Sacramento. Gender Health Center hosted us for a ‘pre-conference’ day where grantees began a journey mapping activity to tell the story of their CDEPs. Over the following days, we continued mapping the impact of our CDEPs and activities to deepen our relationships and drive the direction of the TA Center for the last year of the project. Some convening highlights led by the LGBTQ+ hub included the project-wide World Cafe and the following day 2 breakout sessions: “Beyond Entertainment: How Drag performers can amplify your mission,” led by Jon Lopez, “Infrastructure Building: Organizational Capacity and Workforce Diversification Efforts,” led by Cris Bunnell, both of San Joaquin Pride Center, and “Dancing for the Revolution,” led by me. <3
The time we spent together in April was really enriching. The TA team was really excited to build on this momentum of grantee engagement for the final year of the project.
| | CRDP Annual Convening photos: LGBTQ hub group picture; Alex facilitating the World Cafe; Hellen Heels (AKA Jon Lopez) facilitating, Beyond Entertainment. | | |
The TA Center developed a new 3-track approach for hub-wide TA focusing on organizational capacity building, trauma-informed organizations, and financial sustainability that is responsive to the current political moment.
We had planned to transition to CARS new Mighty Networks learning management system and launch this new approach in June for Pride month. However, those plans were temporarily put on hold when we got news about the Governor’s May Budget Revision.
| |
LGBTQ+ Hub Challenged the Governor’s May Budget Revision
The Office of Health Equity called an urgent all-partner meeting in mid-May to inform us CRDP was slated to be canceled at the end of June 2025 in the Governor’s May Budget Revision. This notice launched a full-scale project-wide effort, led by our sustainability committee, to save our funding. Within 3 days, over 50 CRDP partners, from Humboldt to San Diego, descended on the Capitol to educate Assembly and Senate budget subcommittee members about the impact of our work providing access to mental health care for thousands of un-, under-, and inappropriately served Californians, and the consequences that would result from terminating our projects. The sustainability committee developed a media toolkit that led to press outlets, such as this article in the SF Examiner, uplifting the work of our grantees.
It was humbling and rewarding to be a part of this ‘all-hands-on-deck' movement to save our funding. This is a real-life example of diverse people coming together with a shared purpose and our organizing work having a concrete impact. Learn more about the state budget process here.
| Jahnell Butler of Trans:Thrive, San Francisco Community Health Center, representing the LGBTQ+ hub at our CRDP press conference at the State Capitol on May 20, 2025 | | CRDP had a strong turnout in Sacramento | | Some of the LGBTQ+ hub at the CRDP press conference | | |
We Presented at the National Transgender Health Summit
Alex was at National Transgender Health Summit (NTHS) on May 31 and June 1, presenting the LGBTQ+ TA Center model and uplifting the transgender-serving aspects of our grantees CDEPs. NTHS presents cutting edge research, evidence-based educational sessions, and training opportunities across many disciplines, with an emphasis on HIV. The 2025 NTHS focused on creating sustainable networks for healthcare, mental health, policy makers, HIV prevention professionals, and other stakeholders to advance transgender health across health disciplines.
| | Alex’s poster presentation at NTHS. | | |
Grantees Celebrated at SF Pride
June is widely known as Pride month, and its culmination is marked by SF Pride during the last weekend in June. This year SFCHC was named the Organizational Grand Marshall, Jahnell Butler was named Community Grand Marshall, and Nicky Calma, organizer of the SF Trans March, was named the Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshall. Openhouse also had a strong turnout of 350 community members, staff, and volunteers of all ages at their Felicia Flames Intergenerational Transgender Brunch, and 150 at Sunday’s parade.
Our next newsletter will feature our Central Valley grantees who celebrate Pride Month in October. <3
| Nicky Calma of SFCHC was named SF Pride’s Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshall. | | Openhouse’s float in Sunday’s parade. | |
Resources
-
QueerCare is a volunteer-run non-profit providing financial aid and virtual pre-/post-surgical support to LGBTQ+ folks nationally as well as in-person services in SF, NY, and Philadelphia. While they mostly support folks with gender-affirming care, they also support folks living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
-
Funders for LGBTQ Issues educates and organizes funders and supports power-building to create an abundance of resources for the justice and liberation of all queer communities. They are a network of more than 100 foundations, corporations, and funding institutions that collectively award more than $1 billion annually, including approximately $200 million specifically devoted to LGBTQ issues. Deputy Director, Alexander Lee, was recently featured on an episode of Translash Podcast on the future of Funding Trans Movements.
-
2SLGBTQ Health in Focus is a podcast aimed at service providers who care for 2SLGBTQ folks. Of the first four episodes, two are devoted to supporting service providers in countering and resisting anti-trans hate, and Rainbow Health Ontario has also created a related toolkit with additional resources.
-
Trans Health HQ is an organization developing the largest resource hub of information on trans care for clinicians and patients, and nurturing an international, cross-sector collective of leaders advancing the field of transgender health – all with the end goal of creating an online platform connecting the trans community with affirming providers.
| | The California Reducing Disparities Project's LGBTQ TA Center is funded and directed by the California Department of Public Health, Office of Health Equity, and administered by the Center for Applied Research Solutions. | | | | |
