Community Briefs :: October 7

DOJ funds Boston collaborative to address LGBT domestic violence

The Department of Justice is funding a Boston-area collaborative to tackle the problem of LGBT intimate partner violence, Fenway Health announced Friday, Sept. 30.

The Violence Recovery Program at Fenway is part of the organizational collaborative that is receiving a two-year $300,000 grant from the DOJ's Office of Violence Against Women to help address LGBT domestic violence in Boston's African American and Latino/a communities.

The anti-violence collaborative, called Transforming Ourselves through Dialogue, Organizing and Services/TODOS in Action, also includes the Hispanic Black Gay Coalition, The Network/La Red, and Renewal House.

TODOS in Action plans to engage in dialogue/leadership groups with LGBT people of color communities to better understand interests and needs, collectively envision new or enhanced services, share information, and provide leadership opportunities around domestic violence; increase culturally-grounded and accessible services to LGBT people of color who have experienced domestic violence; and enhance healing and services for African-American and Latino/a LGBT survivors of domestic violence through collaboration, training and advocacy.

Please visit http://bit.ly/oeGi2l for more information.

Registration still open for 2011 Transcending Boundaries conference!

Registration has been extended for the 2011 Transcending Boundaries conference, which will be held Nov. 11 through 13 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.

The conference will include more than 60 workshops, panels, and classes; two nights of entertainment including author readings, burlesque performances, comedy, and music; Veteran's Day and Trans Day of Remembrance events; Saturday night dance party with DJ Purple; one-on-one consultations with a therapist, pastor, or "event mom" Ellen Meyers; the return of 2009 keynote Tristan Taormino who will be presenting on open relationships, trans sexuality, and reading from her new collection of transgender and genderqueer erotica; the Transcending Boundaries Plenary; and a very special keynote speech from Kate Bornstein. Bornstein will also be teaching two workshops and participating in panels throughout the weekend.

Register at www.transcendingboundaries.org/index.php/registration.

JRI receives $1.2M grant to house and support HIV-positive youth

Justice Resource Institute (JRI) announced Sept. 22 the agency was awarded a $1.2 million, three-year grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to house and support HIV-positive youth.

JRI has been selected as one of seven Special Projects of National Significance that will help advance understanding and improve the delivery of housing and care for persons with HIV. The funds will be used to develop a 20-unit scattered site program for young adults (ages 18-25) who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless and living with HIV. The Assisted Living Program and Youth Prevention Programs will coordinate housing and supportive services.

"We are honored to have been selected as one of only seven organizations across the country to receive this grant," says Douglas Brooks, Senior Vice President for Community, Health, and Public Policy at Justice Resource Institute. "There is a great need in the community for these services and we believe we have aligned the resources and referral network to do that work most effectively."

JRI Health and the Assisted Living Program and Youth Prevention Programs will partner with Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership (the state's largest regional provider of rental voucher assistance); Fenway Health's Sidney Borum Health Center; the SPARK Program at Boston Medical Center; Children's Hospital Boston; Boston Healthcare for the Homeless; AIDS Action Committee's Youth on Fire; and JRI's Hope for Youth HIV Prevention Program.