Tegan and Sara Foundation Announces Recipients Of First Community Grants

Tegan and Sara are announcing the recipients of the Tegan and Sara Foundation Community Grants, awarding more than $28,000 in funding to organizations, community partners and activists focusing on providing immediate relief to the LGBTQ+ community through the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We wanted to reach LGBTQ+ organizations who typically go unseen by funding opportunities," Tegan and Sara shared.

"The partners we chose are providing life-saving services, like mental health support and personal wellness care, testing and medical services, food supplies, and food deliveries. These are organizations who will continue this work both during and after the crisis. We're so inspired by the diversity of projects and geographic reach of this first round of grants."

TSF Community Grants were launched this spring as an emergency response fund to meet immediate needs created by coronavirus within LGBTQ+ populations. Billboard Pride lauded "queer icons Tegan and Sara [for] stepping in to advocate for the LGBTQ community." The grants address the unique challenges for LGBTQ+ people who have faced economic and healthcare inequality since before COVID-19. These obstacles are exacerbated by the pandemic.

On May 22, Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara went live on Instagram with grantee Queer Kentucky to discuss their work supporting trans youth.

Members of the TSF Board will be spotlighting grant partners through live interviews on TSF's Instagram. The Board represent LGBTQ+ women from across industries, including healthcare, education, policy, tech and more.

Below is the schedule for IG Live interviews:

• May 27: Vivek Shraya, artist and activist, with Queer Making Community Collective (Sault Ste. Marie, ON)
• May 29: Jessica Halem, LGBTQ Outreach and Engagement Director, Harvard Medical School, with Beyond These Walls (Portland, OR)
• June 3: Aditi Hardikar, Interim Vice President of Development Operations, Obama Foundation,
• with Affinity Community Services (Chicago, IL)
• June 5: Carolyn Merrell, Public Policy Manager, Instagram , with Magic City Acceptance Center (Birmingham, AL)
• June 10: Sara Quin, musician and TSF founder, with Queer Kid Creative (Portland, ME)

COVID-19 has a unique impact on LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities (including people of color and rural communities). LGBTQ+ Americans are more likely to live in poverty and lack access to adequate medical care, paid medical leave, and basic necessities - all of these issues are exacerbated by COVID-19.

Projects supported by the Community Grants include:

• Beyond These Walls, supporting LGBTQ+ Prisoners in the Pacific Northwest, with focus on services for incarcerated transgender women in men's prisons. With $2,000 in funding from Tegan and Sara Foundation, they are creating an LGBTQ+ Prisoner Crisis Line, to open lines of communication for prisoners endangered by the fact that all non-essential personnel (volunteers, chaplains etc.) are barred from entering

• Queer Kid Stuff, creating digital learning videos about LGBTQ+ and social justice topics for elementary schoolers

• Queer Appalachia's Holler Mask Force, an initiative for textile artists in West Virginia to produce masks, blending Appalachian craft tradition with immediate medical need, and supporting a mutual aid network for autoimmune and disabled rural queers to receive basic outbreak supplies

• Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, sending care packages of grooming and beauty kits to transgender youth to prevent heightened gender dysphoria, Visa gift cards for financial assistance for hormone therapy, and trans-celebratory crafting supplies

Learn more about TSF Community Grants and donate to support the next round of funding HERE.