For Immediate Release
February 11, 2021
Federal dollars help to build capacity of local LGBTQ2+ community space in Waterloo Region.
Today, Ministers Bardish Chagger and Maryam Monsef announced approximately $15 million in funding for 76 LGBTQ2+ community-led projects across Canada through the LGBTQ2+ Community Capacity Fund. This includes $279,782 for SPECTRUM, Waterloo Region’s Rainbow Community Space.
Serving people across Waterloo Region, SPECTRUM maintains an inclusive space in downtown Kitchener. SPECTRUM provides both social programs and services including peer support for the rainbow community, and rainbow diversity training for businesses and organizations.
“SPECTRUM has done some amazing work with volunteer power,” says Cait Glasson, President of the Board of Directors, “but in order to meet the needs of as many LGBTQ2+ people as possible in our community we need to become a larger, more sustainable, and more inclusive organization.”
This grant funds Project Excelsior, which will strengthen the capacity of SPECTRUM to advance LGBTQ2+ equality by improving board governance; developing a strategic plan; and focusing on sustainability, succession, and financial planning. The project will also increase access to evidence, data, information, and knowledge sources by performing an environmental scan to assess community needs; and will build the capacity by offering skills training as well as sensitivity training opportunities.
“This project is extremely exciting!” says Jim Parrott, Executive Director. “We’ve hired a wonderful team of three people who have been at work since the beginning of January. I’ve been very impressed with their work thus far and can already see that SPECTRUM will be a vastly different organization by the end of the year.”
“We see Project Excelsior as a jumping off point for what will become SPECTRUM 2.0,” says Melissa Paige Kennedy, Development Officer, “the next stage in SPECTRUM’s evolution as an organization supporting the rainbow community in Waterloo Region.”
Media Contact:
Kristy Skelton, Assistant Executive Director
info@ourspectrum.com
About SPECTRUM:
For specific information about SPECTRUM’s programs and services visit the SPECTRUM website by clicking here.
View the complete list of recipients by clicking here for news release.