|
Our Beginnings
After The National Lesbian and Gay Task Force held their annual
Creating Change Conference in St. Louis, the Creating Change St. Louis
Host Committee and the St. Louis LGBT community got together through
the efforts of the local co-chairs of the St. Louis Creating Change
Host Committee to talk. We had an old fashion Town Hall meeting
to discuss what we wanted as a community. One of those things was
a community center, a home. Out of that meeting a committee was
formed that has been working diligently for the last 18 months to make
that happen.
Our Location
A facility that houses...
- meeting rooms for community organizations and group discussions;
- a multi purpose library with computers,
audio/visual stations, information pamphlets, magazines and of course,
books. This library will be a multi faceted reference center for
our community;
- a lobby lounge area for people to get general information and also spend some time around new and familiar faces.
Our Services
We plan to provide...
- Group meetings for established organizations along with new gatherings for the community;
- Community events such as movies, socials, and various visual and performing arts programs;
- Counseling and/or referrals in relation to mental, emotional and physical health;
- Referrals for legal and violence/ abuse issues.
Our Status
We are a federal tax-exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation.
Currently, we are exploring further location and building possibilities,
pulling our community together and outlining our plan to access various
sources of
funding. We meet regularly with our Board of Directors and as of January 2007,
we send newsletters to our LGBTQ email list, which
includes current Center-sponsored events and volunteer opportunities.
Our Mission
The
mission of The
Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender Community Center of Metropolitan St. Louis
is to provide service to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
questioning and ally community of St. Louis and its surrounding areas
through education, outreach, healthy living and community building.
Our Volunteers
Individuals and groups can assist by donating time to help do things
like sit at a Center informational booth at an event, find
donors
for the Center, write grants, stuff envelopes and many other
things. Voluteer opportunities are emailed to the Center's
email
list. Sign-up to the email list by entering your
email address in the Subscribe box on the homepage and receive the latest information and
updates.
Our Donors
Organizations, individuals, and businesses can hold an event to raise
money for the Center. So far, Ragged Blade Theatre company,
Washington University, and Pride St. Louis have collaborated with or
held their own events which have contributed to our efforts.
Many people who cannot give time to the Center choose to donate either
electronically through our PayPal Donate button on our Home page or
send a check or money order to our mailing address. In
addition,
local business owner, Nancy Novak, encited the 500/500 Challenge which
asks local 499 businesses to donate $500 dollars to the
Center. A
takeoff of this fundraiser, the 10/10 challenge asks individuals to
donate $10, then ask 10 friends to do the same.
Our Survey
In addition to these ways of
contributing to the building and reality
of the Center, we held a survey from June - October 2005, premiering it
at the 2005 PrideFest event in St. Louis' Tower Grove Park.
To
see the results of that survey, click the link below:
Survey
Results (PDF Format)
NOTE: This document shows
the charts of preliminary results from the survey
last year, including some percentages to answer frequently asked
questions. You will need the free Adobe Reader to access the
document. You can obtain one by going to http://www.adobe.com/downloads/ and downloading the latest version of
Adobe Reader.
|
