FEDERAL FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT!

OUTniagara has been awarded $299,941 in federal funding for a multi-faceted project that will bring together people and communities across Niagara’s sexual- and gender-diverse communities.

This project, Informed, Inclusive, Indivisible: Collectively Advancing 2SLGBTQ+ Equality in Niagara, will offer a range of opportunities to learn about the complex barriers in our region, and develop collaborate solutions for fostering skill sharing, increasing representation, and strengthening solidarity.

Following a federal funding press conference earlier today, the team at OUTniagara is excited to announce that this project is being funded by the Department of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), formerly Status of Women Canada. With an 18-month funding period starting in the late fall of 2020, OUTniagara has been able to implement the beginning stages with hiring two staff and setting up needed infrastructure to jump into this project full force.

One of the top project priorities will be to work closely with partner agencies, community groups and members of Niagara’s 2SLGBTQQIA+ community to establish a Regional Advisory Committee (RAC). This dynamic team will be a central to a Community Strengths & Needs Assessment that will lead to a wide range of community programming, partnerships, and supports such as arts workshops, skills-trainings that will support important long-term change for Niagara!

“The assessment, and the hard work that follows, will give us the opportunity to come together to hear the many unique and diverse voices in Niagara’s sexual- and gender-diverse communities,” said Celeste Turner (they, them), chair of OUTniagara. “We’ll be able to build on the strengths that already exist, and fill in gaps that we’ll discover as a team.”

For comments, more information about the project, or to inquire about joining the Regional Advisory Committee, please contact Project Coordinator Laura Ip (she, her) at laura@outniagara.ca.