We are excited to announce that the Mama Bears Giving Circle has granted the following amounts to our Fall 2023 Grant Winners through funds collectively donated over the past 6 months!
- Keshet $18,000
- Los Angeles LGBT Center $18,000
- The Trevor Project $18,000
- Peer Support Space $10,000
Learn more about the great work of these organizations below.
The Los Angeles LGBT Center is the leading provider of comprehensive, trauma-informed care for LGBTQ+ youth, aged 18-24, experiencing homelessness. Services include intensive case management, basic needs, housing (40 emergency beds, 52 transitional living beds, 25 supportive housing units, 75 slots of rapid rehousing, and placement in host homes), mental health and health care, life-skills and leadership development, connection to affirming adults, a GED/high school completion and post-secondary education programs, and an employment program offering career exploration, resume and interview support, paid employment internships, and vocational training opportunities.
Peer Support Space Trans Joy Program provides care packages to Trans Individuals living in Florida as well as affirming volunteer opportunities for Trans individuals and allies to gather. The care packages vary based on how much we fundraise and what is donated but it includes items such as a small and full-size Trans flag, ribbon, unicorn plushies, assorted Trans pride and mental health stickers, destress squishies, pens and journals, bracelets, face masks, lanyards, and pins. The most important item in the care packages are handwritten letters from strangers that care. Each package receives 2-4 letters.
The Trevor Project was founded in 1998 in the wake of the short Oscar-winning film Trevor, which depicted a young gay person considering suicide. In the process of creating and promoting the film, Trevor’s founders discovered that there was no service catering specifically to the needs of LGBTQ young people in crisis like the fictional character Trevor. They paused the airing of the film to found The Trevor Project. On the night the film aired, they launched TrevorLifeline, the country’s first LGBTQ crisis-intervention hotline.
Keshet requests funding for our new Southwest US initiative to promote safety and belonging for LGBTQ+ Jewish youth in Texas and Arizona, made possible by two newly hired staff based in the Dallas – Fort Worth area. Funding will be used a) to mobilize the Jewish community to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, with a particular focus on how trans and LGBTQ+ young people are impacted by harmful policies and legislation; and b) to train Jewish institutions to build communities of LGBTQ+ belonging. In turn, we expect increased participation from young people from Texas and Arizona in our online Youth Programs and our signature LGBTQ+ and Ally Teen Shabbaton weekend retreats. Our approach strengthens the Jewish community as a vibrant and welcoming home for LGBTQ+ Jews and families, and it advances equality for all in a secular context, sending an important message to our LGBTQ+ youth that we are here to protect and support them.
