Greater Hartford Gives Foundation Awards $230,000 in Grants to Support the Wellbeing of Greater Hartford’s LGBTQIA+ Community
Six Grants are provided through the Foundation’s Equality Fund with additional support from the Open Door Fund.
In May 2019 Q Plus started its work as a grassroots, community based, youth led, volunteer run organization with the goal of filling existing gaps in queer youth programming across Connecticut. In March of 2022, Q Plus officially formed as a nonprofit and continued to expand its programming to include weekly youth groups in towns across the state, along with hosting special events like Open Mics and Summer Programs and providing school support in the form of consultations and professional development trainings for staff and faculty and free consultations and visits for Gay Straight Alliances.
Q Plus supports queer youth in the state and continually works to ensure that their work is informed by national research and local individual youth feedback. Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Equality Fund at the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation, the organization plans to expand the services for existing Hartford area youth groups it currently works with and create new support groups and educational workshops. Foundation funds will also be used to support the salary of Q Plus’s new support services director.
“We at Q Plus are incredibly honored and grateful to be chosen for this grant,” said Q Plus executive director and founder Mel Cordner. “We’re so excited to begin applying these funds to our work in the Hartford area right away! The grant will contribute to social events, support groups, and advocacy workshops held in the Hartford area, as well as to the salary of our new Support Services Director position, which was created based on youth requests for additional support services. Our social groups are vital to queer youth looking to create genuine friendships and build their social and soft skills, which is something virtually all teens can benefit from.”
Q Plus is one of the six organizations receiving a combined total of $200,000 in grants from the Foundation’s Equality Fund. Separately in 2018, donor Joel Roskin established a donor-advised fund, which supports organizations serving Greater Hartford that empower people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions to thrive. Combined, the two funds made the 2026 Equality Fund grantmaking possible. Equality Fund grants provide operating support to organizations that increase access to LGBTQIA+ focused and gender-affirming health care, distribute harm reduction kits and free health resources, support social connectedness for queer youth and adults, develop third/community safe spaces, implement queer-centered arts and cultural programming, and advocate for Greater Hartford LGBTQIA+ residents.
With a grant from The Equality Fund in 2024, the Foundation commissioned a LGBTQIA+ Resident Wellbeing study in partnership with DataHaven to illustrate the current state of the LGBTQIA+ community’s quality of life in Greater Hartford. Findings provided in this report were designed to assist organizations and funders in understanding conditions that affect LGBTQIA+ residents’ health and wellbeing to better direct resources and meet the needs and opportunities of this growing community. The study provided disaggregated data to explore LGBTQIA+ residents’ lives at the intersection of other identities including age, disability, race, and ethnicity in relation to their experiences with housing stability, financial security, health outcomes, health access, and a sense of belonging and social connectedness.
While the study identified Connecticut as a national leader in LGBTQIA+ protections and resources, the report also highlighted some recurring themes and recommendations about ways to further strengthen the LGBTQIA+ community and promote better quality of life: through increased support for queer youth, increased access to quality and affirming healthcare, and continued advocacy for LGBTQIA+ needs around disparate health and wellbeing outcomes.
Grants awarded through the Equality Fund were considered for Greater Hartford organizations that have missions that explicitly support the LGBTQIA+ community or have programs designed specifically to address the unique needs of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The five other organizations receiving Equality Fund grants are:
| Organization Name | Program Description | Grant Award |
|---|---|---|
| Equality Connecticut | Equality Connecticut serves as a policy center and community organizing hub dedicated to advancing and protecting the health and rights of LGBTQ+ people in Connecticut. They plan to hire a Deputy Director, drawing on an emerging leader with an interest in policy who can help lead the development and implementation of their policy agenda. This will increase their ability to work with peer organizations, advocate effectively, and engage the community through organizing activities. | $50,000 |
| Hartford Gay Men's Chorus, Inc. | The Hartford Gay Men's Chorus, Inc. uses music as a catalyst to foster diversity, community, and change through partnering and volunteering with local nonprofits and performing at events throughout Connecticut. The Social Outreach Initiative Project will enhance the chorus's outreach initiatives throughout the year. | $15,000 |
| The Health Collective | As one of Connecticut’s longstanding LGBTQIA+-centered health organizations, The Health Collective will continue providing clinic-based services, outreach activities, prevention education, and community engagement efforts focused on improving healthcare access for LGBTQIA+ residents, particularly individuals who are uninsured, underinsured, living with HIV, or experiencing barriers accessing culturally responsive care. | $50,000 |
| The People's Saturday School | Queer cultural organizing project, Just Kin, will run an arts festival and conversation series via podcast. Three study circles will be held through the Academy of Collective Care and Accountability: Transformative Justice, Practicing COVID Safety, and Practicing Love. Funds will also support organization-wide capacity with stipends for Development, Finance and Operations, and People, Culture and Communications. | $25,000 |
| West Hartford Pride Inc. | The Pride Hub will expand upon West Hartford Pride's current programming in advocacy, providing resources, and working with community partners to develop third spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. | $10,000 |
In addition to the 2026 Equality Fund grants, SOGIEcon (the former Hartford-based True Colors) received project funding for its 2027 SOGIEcon event, an annual LGBTQIA+ youth conference, through the Foundation’s Open Door grant opportunity, which provides small grants to fund services and programs for the region’s vulnerable populations. True Colors’ SOGIEcon (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression) is the largest LGBTQIA+ youth conference in the nation. SOGIEcon’s fiscal sponsor, The Health Collective, received the $30,000 Open Door grant to support this upcoming conference, which brings together LGBTQIA+ youth, their peers, allies, family members, educators, social workers, clinicians, clergy and community members to educate themselves, promote connection and support the next generation of LGBTQIA+ leaders. Participants will choose from nearly 200 workshops, performances and activities organized around specific groups and audiences.
The Foundation expects to make additional Open Door Grants to support programs for Greater Hartford’s LGBTQIA+ residents in the coming weeks.
“The Foundation is pleased to provide support for nonprofit organizations that are committed to addressing the needs of Greater Hartford’s LGBTQIA+ community,” said Senior Community Impact Officer Kate Piotrowski. “As we have learned from our LGBTQIA+ Resident Wellbeing study and our discussions with nonprofit organizations and community members, there are a broad range of services the Foundation can support to address resident needs and amplify the strengths for Greater Hartford’s queer community. These grants will continue to strengthen and support our region’s LGBTQIA+ community.”
In June, the Foundation launched the PRIDE Giving Circle, the organization’s fourth giving circle, and a new philanthropic community dedicated to supporting LGBTQIA+ organizations and advancing equity, belonging, and opportunity throughout Greater Hartford. Developed with input from community members, the PRIDE Giving Circle aims to bring together individuals who want to learn about issues affecting LGBTQIA+ communities, connect with others who share a commitment to equity, and collectively invest in solutions through community-driven grantmaking.
To support the Circle’s long-term success, Greater Hartford Gives has committed an initial investment of $250,000 to seed the PRIDE Giving Circle Fund, which reflects the Foundation’s commitment to expanding opportunities for community-led philanthropy and increasing resources available to organizations serving LGBTQIA+ communities.
Greater Hartford Gives Foundation is a community foundation, a hub for community-driven change. We fuel impact throughout Greater Hartford and beyond by making connections, providing funding, and sharing knowledge. Our goal is to create an inclusive region where everyone prospers. Together, with a powerful network of changemakers, we identify our neighbors’ most pressing needs and invest resources in initiatives that dismantle racial and economic barriers and improve quality of life. In our 100-year history, we have invested more than $1 billion throughout the region. Join us in building a Greater Hartford full of opportunity. Learn more at greaterhartfordgives.org.