The Arts of PA Program can be supported by shopping its online store.

The center also welcomes donations, which go to support all of its programming. “We don’t have the option to stop, right? We have to keep going.”įor those wondering how they can help the LGBT Center, Arbour said the best way is to let others know that the center exists, whether that’s through word of mouth, social media, or their website. “We see everyday how critical the work that we are doing is,” Arbour told the Capital-Star. It’s the work that keeps them going, she said. “Having these spaces and having these resources are absolutely vital.”Īrbour and the rest of the LGBT Center’s team works around the clock to make sure individuals have access to the resources they need. “We always need more resources than we have,” Arbour said. In addition to resources and support services for LGBTQ Pennsylvanians, the center also offers inclusive education training for schools, businesses, social service organizations and health care providers. Then over a nine-month period, the responsibility transfers to the individual with the help of a caseworker, to ensure the individual’s long-term success. Grant funds from PHFA pay for the first three months of rent in the program, Arbour said. Through its Program, the center works with Valley Youth House and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency to help homeless LGBTQ individuals ages 18-34 find stable housing. Last year, the Arts of PA Program fulfilled 43 requests for gender-affirming items, the center’s executive director, Amanda Arbour, told the Capital-Star in an email. There’s also the Arts of PA Program, which was founded in 2017 to support transgender and non-binary individuals who cannot afford transition-related items, such as clothes, prosthetics, chest binders and make up kits. The center also offers transgender- and non-binary-specific programs, such as the Passageways Program, which started in 2018 for individuals 16 and older. The group currently meets in a hybrid format three days a week. Since 1993, before the center was founded, the Common Roads Program has provided a drop-in space for LGBTQ youth and young adults. Located in Pennsylvania’s capital city, the LGBT Center hosts a number of different programs for LGBTQ Pennsylvanians. In a statement issued Wednesday, President Joe Biden officially proclaimed March 31 Transgender Visibility Day in the United States, calling on Americans to “join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating discrimination against all transgender, gender nonconforming, and non-binary people - and all people.”īelow are two Pennsylvania-based LGBTQ centers putting in the work to eliminate discrimination and support transgender and non-binary individuals through resources and programming. Each year, March 31 marks International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day some celebrate with joy, while others observe with quiet reverence for those lost and for the adversity transgender and non-binary individuals face.

Trans day of visibility 2021