SPECTRUM News

Re-Launch of TransNAV GPS Directory

March 31st is the International Day of Transgender Visibility. International Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual event occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. This year, we are excited to announce the re-launch of our TransNAV GPS Directory!

Originally launched in the summer of 2021, TransNAV GPS is an online directory designed to help local trans folks find service providers in a variety of areas, such as: medical, mental health, employment, legal, housing, social organizations and personal care.

Funding from the LGBTQ2+ Community Capacity Fund extension allowed us to contract with Melissa Paige Kennedy, the originator of the project, to revisit the directory and make it more user friendly. The re-launched directory currently includes more than 160 listings in various categories. It is now possible for organizations to create an account for the directory where they can create and manage their own listing.

If you represent an organization that serves transgender people in Waterloo Region we encourage you to visit the “Dashboard” tab on TransNAV GPS to create your account!

Spectrum is grateful for the support of Women And Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) who administered the LGBTQ2+ Community Capacity Fund extension.

Visit TransNAV GPS

Read More
Events

Multi-Sport Drop-In Expansion

Since April 2022, we have been partnering with the Stanley Park Community Centre to offer the 2SLGBTQIA+ Multi-Sport Drop-In on Saturdays. This program has run seasonally with short breaks of a few weeks between sessions. It’s been extremely successful with up to 20 participants attending each week.

As announced earlier this month, we have received a grant from Sport Canada to expand this program and conduct a robust evaluation of it in partnership with the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University. We will now be able to offer a second Multi-Sport Drop-In on Saturday afternoons at the Downtown Community Centre in Kitchener. We hope that participants in these sessions will help us by completing evaluation surveys. This grant also includes funds that will allow us to provide Rainbow Diversity Training to as many as 200 City of Kitchener employees who work with the community centres.

In our ongoing efforts to provide more programming in Cambridge, we have partnered with Kinbridge Community Association to run a third Multi-Sport Drop-In on Saturday afternoons in Cambridge!

Spectrum is very grateful to our partners at the City of Kitchener community centres, Kinbridge Community Association, and Wilfrid Laurier University for helping us make this programming possible. We are also grateful to Sport Canada for recognizing the importance of creating opportunities for 2SLGBTQIA+ people to participate in sports and recreation.

Please Note: Though these Drop-Ins take place on most Saturdays, they do not take place EVERY Saturday. Please be sure to check our calendar for details.

Read More