The Los Angeles LGBT Center has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Citi Foundation as part of the 2018 Community Progress Makers Fund.
The Fund is a $20 million, two-year initiative by the Citi Foundation to support high-impact community organizations that are driving economic opportunities in our communities by bringing together residents, nonprofits, businesses, and municipal agencies.
The Center joins a group of 40 change agents who are playing a key role in coordinating the efforts of multiple partners toward common goals and working in new ways to address urban challenges in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, D.C.
This is the second consecutive time in which the Center has been recognized as a Community Progress Maker, bringing Citi Foundation’s total investment to $1 million.
Through the generous fund, the Center can provide core support programs and services to LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness and low-income seniors seeking to attain financial stability. The fund will also enable the Center to develop intergenerational programming for the two vulnerable populations receiving services at the Center’s new Anita May Rosenstein Campus, which is scheduled to open in early 2019.
“LGBT people continue to face threats to their long-term health, economic stability, and well-being. A staggering 40% of youth surviving on the streets of Hollywood identify as LGBTQ, and nearly a quarter of the LGBT seniors in Los Angeles live on less than $1,000 a month,” said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean. “With help from the Community Progress Makers Fund, we will continue to address barriers to affordable housing and steady employment as we work to build a world where every member of the LGBT community can thrive.”
In 2016-2017, the inaugural cohort of Community Progress Makers helped more than 14,700 low-income people secure financial assets; build over 10,500 affordable housing units; strengthened more than 1,100 small businesses; and connected 1,800 young people to jobs in their communities.
“We launched this program in 2015 as our version of ‘venture philanthropy’—a chance to invest in the vision and mission of these organizations who are helping positively transform their communities,” said Brandee McHale, President of the Citi Foundation. “We’re pleased with the results from our inaugural Community Progress Makers and are looking forward to implementing the lessons we’ve learned with this next, impressive group of community leaders as they scale, innovate and drive impact.”