I am so thrilled to announce our latest slate of grantee partners through our flagship Community Issues program, which supports grassroots LGBTQ organizations in the SF Bay Area. Our latest 30 grantee partners are receiving nearly $400,000 for their innovative work in service to the community, especially the groups that are traditionally underfunded and underserved.

I want to highlight just a handful of the projects that these grants will support:

• Funding gender-affirming surgery for transmen of color. Dem Bois Inc. is aiding female-to-male, transmasculine people of color in obtaining gender-affirming surgery, which is often prohibitively expensive yet critical to their ability to live fulfilled, authentic lives.
• Developing theatre rooted in the Latino/a/x queer experience. In the South Bay, Colectivo Acción Latina de Ambiente is producing Spanish-language plays through its Teatro Alebrijes.
• Empowering LGBTQ youth. Health Initiatives for Youth is providing support, community, and leadership development opportunities to LGBTQ youth, many of whom are underserved youth of color, at middle and high schools in West Oakland.
• Reducing isolation among LGBTQ seniors in the North Bay. Sebastopol Area Senior Center is supporting older LGBTQ adults in West Sonoma County by hosting in-person and online dances, discussions, and educational workshops.

These grants represent the first in Horizons’ updated grantmaking strategy, which prioritizes continued investment in grassroots LGBTQ organizations serving the transgender community, LGBTQ people of color, and bisexuals. The strategy also prioritizes specific segments of the LGBTQ community, namely youth, elders, and refugees and asylees. At the same time, Horizons maintains its longstanding “Open Door” policy that provides support across the diverse ecosystem of grassroots LGBTQ nonprofits and programs, including those that fall outside the stated priorities.

Guided by principles of trust-based philanthropy, the grantmaking process continues to include Horizons’ hallmark community review panel, and grants awarded are primarily for unrestricted operating support. Grants are funded in large part by Horizons’ LGBTQ Community Endowment Fund, a permanent source of resources for the community.

Thank you so much to Horizons’ community panel that reviewed the applications for funding, the foundation’s donors who fuel our work, and – of course – our incredible grantee partners who work on the frontlines every day. You make this work possible.