SPECTRUM News

Job Posting: Co-Facilitator, Networking Group for Young 2SLGBTQ+ Professionals

Job Posting

Co-Facilitator, Networking Group for Young 2SLGBTQ+ Professionals

Part-time, Contract

SPECTRUM, Waterloo Region’s Rainbow Community Space

Posting Date: August 25, 2021

Closing Date: September 19, 2021

Thanks to a grant from the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation and the Uvaru Community Fund, SPECTRUM is able to fund two co-facilitators to run a  new pilot social group for young 2SLGBTQ+ professionals aged 25-40.

This will be a pilot project for one year with the potential for the group to continue based on its success. 

Each facilitator will work three hours per month; two hours to run the group itself, and one hour for prep and evaluation.

$30/hour, three hours per month, 11 months

Pay will be by cheque, once per month

Reporting to our Project Coordinator (or designate), the co-facilitators will work together to facilitate a two-hour group every month at a different Waterloo Region restaurant. The facilitators will pick a location for each month and work with the venue to book a reservation and plan menu options within our budget. The facilitators will work to encourage discussion and networking with the goal of an increased sense of belonging and social inclusion for participants (Young 2SLGBTQ+ adults aged 25-40).

Qualifications:

  • Must be 25 years of age or older
  • Must be able to commit to working one night per month
  • Must have access to reliable transportation within Waterloo Region
  • Must identify as 2SLGBTQ+
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Experience facilitating groups
  • Must have a successful police check for the vulnerable sector that is no more than six months old.

Group Details:

  • For up to 15 participants
  • The first dinner for September 24, 2021 will be held at Waterloo Brewing and facilitated by our Acting Executive Director.
  • Monthly thereafter, the co-facilitators will work with the group participants to select a dinner from a local restaurant
  • The co-facilitators will encourage participants to complete our online evaluation survey after each monthly event. 
  • The co-facilitators will compile the evaluation results for analysis by SPECTRUM staff.
  • Co-facilitators may contribute to final grant report for the KWCF.

Application Details:

  • Email us a cover letter and resume with the subject line APPLICATION: Young Professionals Group Co-Facilitator by September 19, 2021
  • Only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted
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Statements

A statement about Chick-fil-A’s opening in Kitchener

SPECTRUM is aware that a new Chick-fil-A franchise will be opening in Kitchener this weekend. As we expressed in the 2020 interview linked above, we have significant concerns with this company and its CEO who continues to donate to anti-2SLGBTQ+ organizations including the National Christian Charitable Foundation, a massive organization which is currently engaged in a campaign against a 2SLGBTQ+ equal rights bill in the United States and which has pushed anti-2SLGBTQ+ bills in over 30 states this year. 

These bills have had a direct impact on the lives and safety of transgender people, especially youth. They include efforts to ban transgender student athletes from sports, support for conversion “therapy”, provisions to block trans youth from receiving transition-related medical care, and even some bills that call for genital inspections of children to ensure compliance with these regulations.

Conversion “therapy” is torture. As an organization that serves and affirms 2SLGBTQ+ people and works to ensure their well-being and belonging in Waterloo Region, we cannot support organizations that advocate for the torture of queer people. Conversion “therapy” is still happening in Canada, and in our own community. Bill C-6, an act that would amend the criminal code to ban these practices, has yet to pass in the Senate.

We would respectfully ask that individuals and organizations who are considering relationships with Chick-fil-A do some research about the company and consider the impact that working with them or shopping with them might have on their 2SLGBTQ+ friends, family members, and co-workers.

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SPECTRUM News, Volunteers

Seeking volunteers to be interviewed for a video about lived 2SLGBTQ+ experiences

SPECTRUM is seeking approximately 12 volunteers who are willing to be interviewed on video to share their lived experience as 2SLGBTQ+ people. The content will be used for a variety of purposes including use in our 2SLGBTQ+ cultural competency training sessions, and for sharing on social media and our website.

  • Each interview will take approximately 60-90 minutes.
  • Interviewees will need to sign a waiver giving SPECTRUM permission to use the video content.
  • Interviewees need to be aged 18+.
  • Interviewees need to be residents (or former residents) of Waterloo Region (Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the townships).
  • Interviewees will receive an honorarium of $100 as thanks for their participation.
  • Filming will take place at Skylight Productions 1440 King St N, St. Jacobs, ON N0B 2N0
  • Filming will take place September 10-12, 2021. You will need to be available on one of those dates.

The interviews will be wide-ranging, covering things like coming out stories, homo/bi/transphobia, Pride celebrations, chosen family and friends, 2SLGBTQ+ pop culture, intersectionality, etc. We plan to use clips from the interviews as examples in our training and education programs and to share on social media to help the broader community understand the experiences and needs of 2SLGBTQ+ people in Waterloo Region.

If you are interested in participating please connect with us at info@ourspectrum.com and provide the following:

  1. Name and pronouns
  2. Your age
  3. Film yourself reading the paragraph below 
  4. Attach the video to your email or provide a link where we can download the video from a Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar

Script for Submission Video

SPECTRUM is Waterloo Region’s Rainbow Community Space. Their vision is of an inclusive community where all LGBTQ2+ individuals are welcomed, celebrated, and supported as their authentic selves. Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission, to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

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SPECTRUM News, WAGE Grant

Introducing the New SPECTRUM!

Thanks to a generous grant from the LGBTQ2 Community Capacity Fund that has allowed us to engage in a year-long capacity-building project, SPECTRUM has been able to complete a re-brand that speaks to some of the changes we’ve made to the organization this year and the direction we are working towards.

Meet our new logo!

SPECTRUM’s new logo

Our Project Excelsior team worked with The Public studio, a community-centered, social justice design studio, to develop a new logo and brand standards. The new logo speaks to the way SPECTRUM provides 2SLGBTQ+ communities with a space for refuge, which in turn, leads to both personal and political growth, to challenging  conversations, and, with time, a more joyful world.  

In the new logo, we see the idea of “space” and “refuge” represented by a rainbow form. As letterforms move toward this space, we see them coming to life. We are introduced to a sense of playfulness,  optimism, joy, and resiliency. This concept also allows space to explore the  dichotomies in this work, namely, the joyful, playful, unapologetic ways  of being within the space, alongside the professionalism needed to speak truth to power and advocate on behalf of our communities in the more public sphere. 

The goal was to prioritize the concepts of potentiality, transformation, protection, and growth. We explore the rainbow as a visual cue for both safety and refuge (internal) and celebration and joy (outward). 

The colours we chose and the number of “bars” in the rainbow are intentional. In moving away from the “standard” six colours of the Pride flag, we leave room for places of growth, alternative understandings of who’s included here, and attention to the roots of queer liberation and where these movements come from. In the colour palette, we have colours that still run adjacent to the six-colour flag, as well as warm browns and pinks that aren’t necessarily desaturated versions of the other colours, but are colours in their own right. 

We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with The Public on this re-brand. Their team spent a lot of time getting to know SPECTRUM and its people, the ways we work, our history, and our future goals. We believe the new logo does an excellent job of identifying SPECTRUM as an organization.

As we move forward, we’d also like to reflect on our history and thank Eric Chengyang, Thane Robyn, and the late Thom Ryan who created the previous versions of our logo. Eric Chengyang designed our first logo back in February 2013. In September 2015, the logo was cleaned up by Thane Robyn, who separated the textual sub-title of our name (part of our full legal name) from the graphic itself. In June 2016, Thom Ryan modified the image still further by changing the cursive subtitle to a san-serif all-caps version for readability.

Previous versions of SPECTRUM’s logo

We’ve also launched a new website!

We are also excited to be launching our new website designed by our Marketing & Development Coordinator, Ash Kreider. The new site was designed with care taken to respond to feedback that SPECTRUM has received over the last year or so, including thoughts shared by the community in various surveys and focus groups we conducted earlier this year. The new site is accessible, easy to navigate, faster to load, and is designed to reflect the new brand standards created by The Public.

We already have a list of additional changes in the works. These will be implemented throughout the rest of the year. We hope you’ll enjoy using the new site and celebrating our new brand identity with us.

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SPECTRUM News, Survey

Help Us Create a Trans Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Toolkit for Waterloo Region

SPECTRUM Waterloo’s 2SLGBTQ+ / Rainbow Community Space is working to develop a mental health promotion and suicide prevention toolkit for the transgender community in Waterloo Region. We need to hear from members of the trans community in the region, as well as from family members, carers, partners, friends and service providers, to learn more about their perspectives related to trans mental health promotion and suicide prevention.

Overview

The purpose of this project is to create a toolkit that reflects both research and community priorities to support trans people in Waterloo Region. In the initial phase of this project, we’re working to understand the perspectives of trans folks, families, carers, friends and service providers, in order to identify key areas of priority and key resources to be incorporated into the toolkit.

Who We Are

Opening their doors in 2012, SPECTRUM is Waterloo Region’s 2SLGBTQ+ / Rainbow community space. SPECTRUM provides a safe space for the region’s Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer community through programing, resources, events and more.

Wisdom2Action (W2A) is a 2SLGBTQ+ owned and operated social enterprise and consulting firm. Through W2A’s commitment to anti-oppression, community engagement, and evidence-based practice, we help civil society organizations and governments facilitate change and strengthen communities. Wisdom2Action is working with SPECTRUM to execute community engagement and support content creation of a toolkit around the mental health promotion and suicide prevention toolkit for the transgender community in Waterloo Region.

Get involved

If you would like to share your perspective on mental health promotion and suicide prevention for the trans community, and ultimately inform this toolkit, please complete the survey here:

http://www.wisdom2action.org/transtoolkit

If you would like to dive further into your perspectives with us, please consider expressing your interest to participate in a key informant interview here. Honorariums will be provided to all key informants for their time.

If you have any questions about this project, or would like more information, please contact Alyssa at Wisdom 2 Action.

Thank you for your interest and participation in this very important project.

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SPECTRUM News

SPECTRUM is Recruiting EDI Consultants

SPECTRUM recognizes that the organization has work to do to ensure that its  programs and services are accessible and relevant to all members of the community.  One of our four strategic priorities for 2021-2023 is Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. We want to ensure that we are working within anti-racist and anti-oppressive frameworks. To that end, we are recruiting three part-time consultants to help us audit and evaluate the organization and make recommendations and improvements that will help SPECTRUM move forward.

Please click to download the three postings below:

SPECTRUM acknowledges that this is but the first step in the right direction. These three areas are being targeted to start with based on feedback we received in the community surveys we conducted earlier this year. This project is made possible thanks to our federal LGBTQ2 Community Capacity grant and we intend to continue looking for funding opportunities that will allow us to expand this work in the future.

Please apply with a resume and cover letter by September 10, 2021. Send an email to info@ourspectrum.com with the subject APPLICATION: Consultant.

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SPECTRUM News

Call for submissions: mural proposals for SPECTRUM’s newly expanded space!

Call for submissions: mural proposals for SPECTRUM’s newly expanded space!

Mock-up of SPECTRUM’s new space with highlighted wall where the mural will go

We are calling for artists to paint a mural on a wall in SPECTRUM’s newly expanded space!

Thanks to a grant from the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund and our federal capacity-building funding, SPECTRUM is proud to be able to engage a local artist to create a mural for our newly expanded space.

We are especially interested in proposals from Black and Indigenous artists in Waterloo Region who have lived experience as a member of LGBTQ2+ communities.

We are looking for proposals that explore intersectionality of identities, and the vibrancy of LGBTQ2+ culture.

  • Proposals should be bright and welcoming to all people.
  • The dimensions of the wall are approximately 10-12′ high x 25′ wide
  • Submissions are due by August 10, 2021
  • We expect the work to be completed in September 2021 (COVID-permitting)
  • Artist honourarium is $5,000 and supply costs are a maximum of $500.

An image of the mural will be used to create postcards, stickers, and t-shirts that will be sold to celebrate SPECTRUM’s 10th anniversary in 2022. The proceeds of sales of these items will be divided between SPECTRUM and the artist. This revenue will go towards the ongoing rent and maintenance of SPECTRUM’s space to ensure that we continue to be able to provide a welcoming space for years to come.

Submission Format

Please send submissions to info@ourspectrum.com

Subject Line: Mural Proposal

Include:

  • Name, pronouns
  • Contact Info
  • A sketch of the design you are proposing
  • A short (250 word) description of your proposed piece
  • Link(s) to examples of your previous work online
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Media

Non-Binary People’s Day: Non-binary people aren’t “new” or “trendy”

Non-Binary People’s Day: Non-binary people aren’t “new” or “trendy”

July 14th is Non-Binary People’s Day – a day to celebrate and raise awareness of people who identify outside of the man/woman gender binary. While many people talk about non-binary gender as though it’s something “new” that young people are just doing “for attention”, the fact is that cultures around the world have had traditions of non-binary gender for thousands of years, of which Two-Spirit Indigenous Canadians are just one example.

Non-binary people are often accused of “cramming” our “made-up” genders down “people’s throats”. But our society’s strict gender binary makes it extremely hard for non-binary people to live our lives without constantly having to teach impromptu Gender 101 classes to everyone we encounter.

As a non-binary person who came out as transgender at the start of the pandemic, here are just some of the situations that I have encountered in past year that have forced me to teach strangers about my gender in order to conduct my daily business.

  • Getting misgendered by official documents like school and employment records
  • Being unable to get medical care without being misgendered because Ontario Health Cards do not have a non-binary option
  • Having to misgender myself while job searching because of lack of a non-binary option
  • Nearly always being misgendered by service workers, even while wearing a face mask featuring they/them pronouns
  • Having to choose between remaining silent or correcting a coworker in public when they don’t respect my pronouns
  • Getting left out of Mother’s and Father’s Day activities at my kid’s school
  • Being intentionally misgendered by a childcare worker at my kid’s school
  • Being unable to find therapists qualified to treat non-binary people
  • Having to pay out of pocket for transition-related care because my doctor didn’t know anything about transgender or non-binary medical needs
  • Having to opt out of extended family gatherings because virulently anti-trans family members would be at an event

That’s only a small number of examples. Unfortunately, non-binary people don’t so much “come out” as they become unpaid Gender Studies and Queer Theory professors for everyone around them.

So, what can cisgender (people who are not trans and/or non-binary) do to make it less exhausting to be a non-binary person in our community, you might ask?

  1. You can’t know someone’s gender based on their appearance, so don’t assume you know someone’s gender because of how they look. Being misgendered is painful, but fear of provoking emotional or physical violence keeps many non-binary people from correcting people who misgender them. So instead, avoid gendered greetings like “sir” or “ma’am”, and avoid making references to someone’s gender (IE. “can you help this lady” or “this man is waiting”).
  2. Don’t stare at people you think may be transgender, non-binary, or otherwise gender non-conforming. You don’t need to know the gender of everyone around you. Also, it’s often impossible to tell the difference between someone who is staring because they’re curious and someone who is staring because they’re about to yell at you.
  3. Use Google to educate yourself. There are a wealth of resources online that you can use to educate yourself about the basics of gender and issues faced by transgender and/or non-binary people. Avail yourself of those resources.
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Survey

SPECTRUM Launches Survey To Help Inform Transgender Self Harm, Abuse, Suicide Reduction Tool Kit

SPECTRUM Launches Survey To Help Inform Transgender Self Harm, Abuse, Suicide Reduction Tool Kit

Thanks to a grant from the Canadian Women’s Foundation SPECTRUM Waterloo Region’s Rainbow Community Space in conjunction with Wisdom2Action (W2A) have launched a community survey to help inform the creation of a tool kit for the transgender community aimed at the reduction of gender based violence that lead to abuse, self harm and suicide. Please help us to make this a highly successful project that can greatly benefit our community by participating in our online survey. Please click here  for more details and to participate. Thank you for your support.

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