|
WINDY CITY TIMES
|
|
|
South Side LGBTQ Center Brave Space Alliance expands staff, office
2020-03-09
|
|
This article shared 4002 times since Mon Mar 9, 2020
|
|
CHICAGO — Brave Space Alliance has doubled its staff by hiring Zahara Bassett as Director of Development and External Relations, and Brittney Thomas as Director of Programs. The two new hires bring further vibrancy, skills, and capacity to the South Side LGBTQ Center, which last month announced a new permanent office in Hyde Park, at 1515 E. 52nd Place.
Brave Space Alliance, which impacts an estimated 2000 trans people in Chicago each year through programs, services, and events, has experienced significant growth since becoming a grantee of Gilead Pharmaceuticals in November of 2019. The organization's programmatic offerings have grown since its founding in 2017, and now include; traditional support groups; mutual aid groups focused on the reduction of HIV infection rates in Black and Brown trans communities, career services, government service alignment, and community connection at drop-in and pop-up location across the South Side; employment justice programming, and a soon-to-be-launched mental health program.
Zahara Bassett comes to Brave Space Alliance with over eight years of experience in the public health sector. Zahara spent three of those years as a Medical Adherent Research Specialist with Howard Brown Health. For years Bassett has supported and provided comprehensive resources to the TGNC communities of color on the West and South side of Chicago; in 2016 she started Meals for Christmas; an event dedicated to feeding those who were homeless on Christmas Day. She is also a recent graduate of Illinois Media School, and a member of many Boards and Planning Committees throughout the Chicagoland area, including Heroes of Change. Bassett will be leading the organization's forthcoming capital campaign to fund the renovation and expansion of Brave Space Alliance's new office.
Brittney Thomas is a black non-binary person whose activism centers around restorative justice and trauma informed care for black and brown marginalized groups within under-served communities in Chicago. Born and raised in Chicago in the west side neighborhood of North Lawndale, Thomas decided early on that they wanted to make a difference in all communities like North Lawndale and their community members specifically working to increase access and sustainability. Thomas graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Community Psychology and a minor in Community Services Studies from DePaul University in 2013. Since then Thomas has dedicated their life to serving as a youth advocate and organizer for black and brown youth as a facilitator, mentor and career & life coach with a focus on LGBTQIA+ identifying youth. They will be leading the expansion of Brave Space Alliance's programs and community outreach, including the launching of new programs later this year.
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to creating and providing affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us resources, programming, and services for LGBTQ individuals on the South and West sides of the city. We strive to empower, embolden, and educate each other through mutual aid, knowledge-sharing, and the creation of community-sourced resources as we build toward the liberation of all oppressed peoples.
—From a press release
|
|
|
|
This article shared 4002 times since Mon Mar 9, 2020
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Toward a golden hour: Advocate Rodrigo Heng-Lehinthen predicts trans-rights breakthrough in U.S. 2024-04-24 Two of the nation's biggest trans advocacy organizations are set to merge later this year. In early summer, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) will officially ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project set to hold its second annual exhibition 2024-04-19 The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project will hold its second annual exhibition Friday, April 26 from 6-8 p.m. at Center on Addison, 806 W. Addison St., in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood. This free and open to the ...
|
| | HRC continues call for Title IX rules that protect transgender student-athletes 2024-04-19 --From a press release - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced it has finalized a Title IX rule that clarifies the scope of nondiscrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity throughout educational activities ...
|
| | New Title IX rules protects LGBTQ+ students...to a point 2024-04-19 New Title IX guidelines finalized April 19 will protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students by federal law and further safeguards of victims of campus sexual assault, according to ABC News. But those protections don't extend to ...
|
| | WORLD Nigeria arrest, Chilean murderer, trans ban, Olivier Awards, marriage items 2024-04-19 Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's (EFCC's) decision to arrest well-known transgender woman Idris Okuneye (also known as Bobrisky) over the practice of flaunting money has sparked questions among several ...
|
| | NATIONAL Ohio law blocked, Trevor Project, Rev. Troy Perry, ICE suit, Elon Musk 2024-04-19 In Ohio, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook temporarily blocked a Republican-backed state law banning gender-affirming care (such as puberty blockers and hormones) for transgender minors from ...
|
| | Schools are back in downsized Chicago Pride Parade after merging under 'welcoming schools' umbrella 2024-04-18 At least four schools are back in the Chicago Pride Parade lineup after they were previously told they wouldn't be able to march in this year's celebration due to new limitations enforced by the city. They ...
|
| | THEATER Blue in the Right Way's 'Women Beware Women' offers feminist, trans take on a troubling Jacobean tragedy 2024-04-18 "Problematic" is a great go-to adjective to describe Women Beware Women. This 1621 Jacobean tragedy is by English playwright Thomas Middleton, who is probably best remembered as a collaborator with William Shakespeare on their pessimistic tragedy ...
|
| | Appeals court overturns W. Va. trans sports ban 2024-04-17 On April 16, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with teen trans runner Becky Pepper-Jackson and overturned a West Virginia law that banned transgender athletes from competing on girls' and women's sports teams in ...
|
| | Fed appeals panel ruling helps trans athlete 2024-04-17 A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday (April 16) that West Virginia's law barring transgender female students from participating on female student sports teams violates federal law. In a 2 to 1 decision, the panel ...
|
| | NAIA votes to ban trans women from athletics, affecting Chicago conference 2024-04-16 The National Association of Intercollegiate College on April 8 released a new policy on transgender athletes, banning trans women from competing under its jurisdiction. The new policy, which is set to go into effect Aug. 1, ...
|
| | A prom of their own: Chicago orgs host LGBTQ+ youth celebration 2024-04-15 On April 13, Center on Halsted hosted its queer prom, MasQUEERade, for folks enrolled in its youth services. Prom goers created their own masquerade masks thanks to craft stations at the door. The evening included a ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ film fest Queer Expression to feature Alexandra Billings in 'Queen Tut' 2024-04-12 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Pride Film Fest celebrates its second decade with a new name—QUEER EXPRESSION—and has announced its slate of LGBTQ+-themed feature, mid-length and short films for in-person and virtual events in April and May. QUEER EXPRESSI ...
|
| | WORLD Ugandan law, Japan, Cass report, Tegan and Sara, Varadkar done 2024-04-12 Ugandan LGBTQ+-rights activists asked the international community to mount more pressure on Uganda's government to repeal an anti-gay law that the country's Constitutional Court refused to nullify, PBS reported. Activist ...
|
| | NATIONAL Trans woman killed, Tenn. law, S. Carolina coach, Evan Low, Idaho schools 2024-04-12 Twenty-four-year-old Latina trans woman and makeup artist Meraxes Medina was fatally shot in Los Angeles, according to the website them, citing The Los Angeles Times. Authorities told the Times they found Medina's broken fingernail and a ...
| |
|
|
|
|
| New Title IX rules protects LGBTQ+ students...to a point | | NATIONAL Ohio law blocked, Trevor Project, Rev. Troy Perry, ICE suit, Elon Musk | | SHOWBIZ Celine Dion, 'The People's Joker,' Billy Porter, Patti LuPone, 'Strange Way' | | LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project set to hold its second annual exhibition | | WORLD Nigeria arrest, Chilean murderer, trans ban, Olivier Awards, marriage items | |
|
|
|
|