The Equality Fund committee awarded $200,000 to 12 organizations serving the needs of our LGBTQIA+ friends, families, and neighbors across the metro area.
The fund was established in 2018 to cultivate a community that supports, includes, and respects residents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, or asexual, plus additional sexual orientations and gender identities.
During this grant cycle, the committee elevated proposals that focused on populations with intersecting identities, such as Omaha PFLAG and Centro Latino of Iowa’s Latinx LGBTQIA+ programming and capacity-building efforts. Additionally, there were investments in youth programming at Big Brothers Big Sisters for affirming mentoring and Nebraska Writers Collective’s Louder Than a Bomb Poetry program.
2021 Equality Fund Recipients
- ACLU Nebraska Foundation, Inc.: $30,000 for an LGBTQIA+ Community Attorney
- BFF Omaha: $15,000 for 2021 GenQ Programming
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands: $10,000 to increase LGBTQIA+ Affirming Mentoring
- Black and Pink, Inc.: $20,000 for the Opportunity Campus
- Centro Latino of Iowa: $10,000,for Centro Latinx LBGTQIA+ Program Support
- Heartland Family Service: $25,000 for Affirming Care at HFS Phase III
- Huespring: $14,020 for Building a LGBTQ+ Mentor Base
- Nebraska AIDS Project: $25,000 for Targeted Outreach Phase 2
- Nebraska Writers Collective: $10,000 for the Louder than a Bomb Poetry Program
- Omaha Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays Inc.: $13,980 for the Latinx Strategic Plan
- Planned Parenthood of the Heartland: $10,000 for LGBTQIA+ Sexual Health Care Coordination
- Union for Contemporary Art: $17,000 for PRIDE 2021
The Equality Fund is a collaboration between the Sherwood Foundation, Mutual of Omaha, Conagra Brands Foundation, and Peter Kiewit Foundation. It is administered by the Omaha Community Foundation.
Each year, all funding decisions are made by a resident-led committee of individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+. The next grant cycle for the fund will open on January 1, 2022.