Lgbtq Community Needs Assessment Survey Closes January 31

Members of Chicago’s LGBTQ community have until Thursday, January 31 to participate in an online needs assessment survey, the results of which will be used to make grant-making decisions for organizations that support some of the city’s most vulnerable populations.

While her team will be looking at data from the entire community, she says researchers are curious about what issues are prioritized when they control for race, orientation, and gender identity. “We need to drill down and look at the experiences of people with intersectional differences who are a part of the LGBTQ community,” says Smith.

Affinity Community Services, a social justice organization serving the needs of black LGBTQ people with a focus on women, was a grant recipient in 2015. Executive director Imani Rupert-Gordon says “one of the initiatives we were able to offer was hosting an amazing workshop series with Jacqueline Boyd of the Care Plan. This series provided skills and considerations to help our community plan for aging and caretaking.”