LGBTQ Youth Commission Awards Relief Grants to 2 Worcester Orgs

LGBTQ Youth Commission Awards Relief Grants to 2 Worcester Orgs

The MA Commission on LGBTQ Youth was able to give out substantial COVID relief grants to individual queer youth and the organizations that support them. Two Worcester organizations were chosen to receive our COVID-19 relief funding: The Bridge of Central MA and AIDs Project Worcester/SWAGLY.

The Bridge of Central MA's Open Sky Community Services' Safe Homes Program applied for relief in order to maintain their emergency food pantry and transgender clothing closet. The food pantry is used by homeless and low-income LGBTQIA youth and depends on food donations from volunteers, which have dwindled during the COVID19 crisis. Now that stores and schools are closing, transgender youth, without the availability of binders that are made for use on the human body, may resort to using not safe measures to bind, which can constrict breathing and cause bodily harm.

AIDS Project Worcester/SWAGLY applied for relief so that they could host peer support and interactive groups on a virtual platform and afford a package that would allow enough space to accommodate up to 245 youth at a time. Additionally, AIDS Project Worcester/SWAGLY wanted to be able to create emergency snack packages for LGBTQIA+ youth who may be experiencing homelessness and/or lack of access to food due to closures of different programs. AIDS Project Worcester and SWAGLY are committed to remaining open with basic needs services made available, so that they can provide these emergency snack packs to youths within the city of Worcester

Approximately the end of April

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