Pride Foundation

Idaho National Laboratory embraces diversity

Guest Blogger Theron McGriff is a member of Pride Foundation’s Five-State Steering Committee and an employee of Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which last week announced that couples who work for INL will soon receive the same dental and medical benefits as married couples.

The gay and lesbian employees of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have been working with our companies’ leadership for several years to make our work environments more inclusive, understanding and accepting.  We are beyond excited to learn of the changes in the benefit package!   Working with organizations like Pride Foundation and others, have inspired me and my coworkers to continue the dialogue with our company; even in the early phases when we thought no one was listening.  Fellow members of the Pride Foundation have been supportive and helped by providing talking points, national statistics and other information on how providing inclusive benefits can have far reaching impacts;  all of which helped us show our company leaders that creating an inclusive work environment is an effective tool in attracting and retaining the world’s brightest from the scientific and engineering community as well as having life changing impacts to the glbt families here in at the INL.  Our company has also formed an Inclusion Strategy Team that will continue to work with all employees and serve as a voice to leadership as we continue to make INL an environment that celebrates all diversities!  We congratulate our leadership for valuing all employees!

2009 Inland Northwest Grants Announced

Pride Foundation awards $18,000 in grants to organizations working to strengthen the LGBT community in Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Pride Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2009 Pride Foundation/Inland Northwest grants cycle.  $18,000 was awarded to 6 nonprofit organizations working to strengthen and improve lives in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The Pride Foundation/ Inland Northwest Committee received eight applications with requests totaling $33,250.  A committee of six diverse volunteers from Spokane and Whitman County met and decided to award grants in four target areas: Arts and Recreation; Education, Advocacy and Outreach; HIV and AIDS; and Youth and Families.

Grantees are located in the Inland Northwest, an area comprised of Eastern Washington and North Idaho.  A full description of each grant follows this listing:

In Support of Education, Advocacy and Outreach

Eastern Washington University (Cheney, WA) www.ewu.edu $2,500 to fund the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Pride Visibility Campaign which creates a welcoming climate for LGBTQ students on campus and includes a Pride Week Celebration, a Lavender Graduation and leadership development opportunities for LGBTQ students. EWU’s Pride Week in April includes speakers, panels and/or cultural events each day for the entire week. Lavender Graduation celebrates the accomplishments and achievements of LGBTQ students.

In Support of Arts and Recreation

The Gay-Straight Alliance at the University of Idaho (Moscow, ID) www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~alliance $1,300 to support “The Prom You Never Had.”  The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at the University of Idaho, founded in 1983, is one of the oldest diversity clubs recognized by the Associated Students of the University of Idaho.  The GSA encourages individual growth and understanding, by improving visibility and providing support for LGBTQ people as well as their allies.  “The Prom You Never Had” has been an annual event for the GSA since the mid-nineties.  The goal of the prom is to make a safe environment for LGBTQ youth to experience a prom that they were denied or felt that they could not have in high school.  The average annual attendance of the prom is 200 youth, aged 16 to 25. 

In Support of HIV/AIDS Service Delivery and Prevention

North Idaho AIDS Coalition (Coeur d’Alene, ID) www.northidahoaidscoalition.org $4,100 for general operating support.  North Idaho AIDS Coalition (NIAC) is the only non-profit community-based AIDS organization in North Idaho and serves 40% of the HIV-positive individuals in the entire state.  Services NIAC provides include case-management, client advocacy and general support for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.  NIAC is run primarily on state and federal money.  These funds are extremely restricted, barely covering the cost of helping clients with direct services.  With funds from Pride Foundation, NIAC will be able to maintain its prevention programs, increase testing numbers and increase the general operating budget.

Coalition of Responsible Disabled (Spokane, WA) www.cordwa.info $4,100 to support the HIV/AIDS Emergency Project.  The Coalition of Responsible Disabled (CORD) provides services to people with a broad variety of disabilities in Spokane and 17 surrounding rural counties in Eastern Washington.  CORD assists clients through a variety of services which include life-skills training, assistance in acquiring affordable housing, and assistance in transitioning from institutional care to less restrictive housing.  Pride Foundation funds will be used to continue to assist people living with HIV to meet emergency needs that result from tremendous gaps in resources.  CORD offers emergency rent, utility and basic transportation need requests, up to $100 per request, on a one-time basis only.  CORD accepts referrals for these funds from Spokane Regional Health District, Spokane AIDS Network, and the Community Health Association of Spokane.  For those persons with HIV/AIDS, without access to these organizations, CORD accepts requests directly from the individuals.

Spokane AIDS Network (Spokane, WA) www.san-nw.org $3,000 to support sexual health education for LGBTQ young people.  The goal of this project is to empower young LGBTQ and allied leaders to deliver sexual health education, including HIV prevention, to their peers and to harness their leadership capacities to engage on issues affecting their community.  To do so, Spokane AIDS Network (SAN) will support 6 sexual health education projects in educational institutions throughout central and eastern Washington.  LGBTQ and allied students from eligible institutions will apply to SAN to implement projects that will disseminate a sexual health education message on their campus.

In Support of Youth and Families

Odyssey Youth Center (Spokane, WA) www.odysseyyouth.org.org $3,000 for general operating support.  Odyssey Youth Center (Odyssey) works with at-risk LGBTQ youth and allies to provide a safe gathering space, educational programming, leadership development, advocacy training, skills building, social activities, referrals for services and positive role-modeling.  In 2008, Odyssey served nearly 300 youth, ages 14 to 21, who visited Odyssey over 3000 times.  While the majority of youth who attend Odyssey reside in Spokane County, they consistently are visited by youth throughout the rural areas of eastern Washington and north Idaho.  Funding from Pride Foundation will allow Odyssey to uphold its mission by building on the advocacy, youth development, and coalition-building work that has proven effective over the years.

Inland Northwest Grants Available

Inland Northwest Grants Due on August 21, 2009

Pride Foundation/Inland Northwest will be giving $18,000 to LGBTQ serving nonprofits. Full details on applying can be found here. Applications must be postmarked by August 21, 2009.

Inland Northwest Rainbow Awards

Over 80 people came together in Spokane last night to celebrate some local leaders at Pride Foundation/Inland Northwest’s Rainbow Awards. The event, now in its 14^th year, has become a fun part of Spokane’s Pride week as it recognizes the extraordinary work people are doing in the LGBT community.  This year’s Rainbow Award winners were:

Individual Rainbow Award

Gina Marie Young

Group Rainbow Award

Dempsey’s Brass Rail

Larry Brown & Leonard Jenkins

Ally Rainbow Award

Kalispel Tribe

Northern Quest Resort & Casino

Over the Rainbow Award

Paul Tiesse

Thanks to wai.tiz

Special thanks to the Unitarian Universalist Pride Team for hosting the awards, to Brighton Court and Rosauers for donating food, Barb Beyenhof for creating the stained glass awards, and Laura Luckey, Carla Brannan, Gennie Gregg for the entertainment.