The University of North Florida’s LGBT Resource Center has received a $30,000 grant from the LGBTQ Community Fund for Northeast Florida. The Fund recently awarded a total of $130,000 in grants to numerous local agencies that serve the LGBTQ community and focus on making Jacksonville more inclusive.
“This generous grant will help our Center tell the story of our life-changing work,” said Kaitlin Legg, UNF LGBT Resource Center director. “The Center plays an important role in not only attracting talented and diverse students to the University but promoting an atmosphere where LGBTQ students achieve healthy, fulfilled lives.”
This funding will be used to conduct a review of programs to learn how to better measure and communicate the Center’s impact on student recruitment, retention and success through their time at UNF. The Center plans to hire an external reviewer/consultant as well as a graduate student assistant to help in conducting this work. The grant will also support the second annual LGBT Employment Summit, which attracted businesses from around the state last year.
By the end of this project, the Center hopes to have improved measures for assessment and documents/reports that can be shared and utilized for recruiting talented and diverse students to UNF. The Center also hopes to create collaborative programs within UNF’s Academic Affairs and Enrollment Services departments to understand the Center’s impact on the State University System metrics and attract other donations, grants and resources.
The UNF LGBT Resource Center mentors and assists students in discovering and honing their unique talents, securing internships as well as jobs and finding a network of supportive individuals to help them thrive in college. The Center’s mission is to provide valuable education and resources for the entire campus community with a commitment to advocacy, equality, respect and support for LGBT students, faculty and staff.
The LGBTQ Community Fund seeks to help existing community organizations and institutions better serve the community’s LGBTQ youth, families and elders. It’s a component fund of The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, Florida’s oldest and largest community foundation, that works to stimulate philanthropy to build a better community.
