On The Move

While Napa County is technically part of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, as residents know, it is worlds apart in terms of acceptance and visibility for the 11,000 LGBTQ people that live, work and go to school here.

What started as a fledgling support group for LGBTQ youth at VOICES youth center in early spring 2010, has become a county-wide initiative serving hundreds of people, with plans to open Napa’s first LGBTQ Community Center.

Since launching as a funded program, LGBTQ Connection has succeeded in:

• developing a diverse group of leaders, advisors and cohort of volunteers omposed of youth, adults and older adults
• training hundreds of nonprofit and community professionals to be more aware and inclusive of LGBTQ people
• hosting historic, large, diverse community events
• increasing visiblity and awareness--with news publicity alone, the Connection has been featured in more than 30 news print articles, television interviews (including ABC 7 and KTVU 2 News) and radio broadcasts 
• supporting LGBTQ students and teachers at 7 high school and 3 middle school campuses
• conducting a Napa county-wide LGBTQ needs assessment to provide community and civic leaders with first-ever data about safety, inclusion and great ideas for what can make Napa County safer, more welcoming and inclusive

Need more info on why to give? Here's:

• 10 reasons LGBTQ Connection needs your pledge of $10 this Give OUT Day: http://bit.ly/1jme64H
• 10 things that could happen by pledging $10 to LGBTQ Connection on Give OUT Day: http://bit.ly/1jmecsY

LGBTQ Connection is run by the umbrella organizaiton, On The Move, which develops young people as leaders by building exceptional community programs that challenge inequities in their communitiess.

For more information, visit www.lgbtqconnection.org, or follow their work on Facebook (http://facebook.com/lgbtqnapa) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/lgbtqnapa).

On The Move also operates VOICES foster youth community centers and the McPherson Neighbhorhood Initiative. For more information on LGBTQ Connection's sister programs, visit www.onthemovebayarea.org.