2022 IU Foundation’s Queer Philanthropy Circle Grants

Health care visits can be stressful for anyone but members of the LGBTQ+ community who may have additional fear of discrimination or being misunderstood. The Gender Affirming Medical Care proposal is to improve access to gender-affirming hormone therapy and/or pre-exposure prophylaxis for students at Indiana University Bloomington.

Across Time is a semester-long program that highlights the endurance of LGBT and queer film, media, and performance as a site of community construction, cultural memory, and survival. Combining film screenings, performances, workshops, and visits from industry professionals, Across Time has been created to broaden the understanding of LGBT and queer media culture while providing the student and Bloomington community with unparalleled access to materials, ideas, and individuals otherwise not easily accessible.

In an effort to enhance and promote a more student-friendly space, the LGBTQ+ Culture Center involved the IU Interior Design program. The enhancement includes creating a new student lounge/café, new student/intern room, new library arrangement, a new gender-affirming closet, new counseling and testing office, and a new conference room that can seat 20 people without tables/chairs or 8 people with tables/chairs.

An LGBTQ+ Studies speaker series will bring distinguished scholars working in that field to the Bloomington campus during the 2022-23 school year for the purpose of heightening interest among students, faculty and staff in LGBTQ+ studies. The funds will also allow for a major one-day LGBTQ+ Studies symposium late in the spring term of 2023 which would be used as a platform to announce new curricular initiatives currently under development.

In fall 2021, IU Fort Wayne launched a new Ambassador and Student Success Coach program to help recruit, engage and retain students. Initially, the program identified the need for upperclassmen from each academic program to support prospects and first-year students. This team of ambassadors supports admissions and recruiting, orientation, peer coaching, and assists with student engagement activities and planning. As we consider ways to diversify the pathway to health science professions, we are placing a priority to expand this team to support students across all majors. In this expanded role, two (2) ambassadors will serve with a diversity, equity, and inclusion focus, and engage peers both academically and socially.

The purpose of this pilot project is to provide gender-affirming and relevant sexual holistic health care to the IU South Bend community (students and employees). The aim is to employ a licensed Master of Social Work counselor with gender-affirming and sexual health care expertise to augment the already-provided physical gender-affirming and sexual health care and the new sexual assault services offered through the IU South Bend Health and Wellness Center, thereby creating a holistic therapeutic environment to address physio-psychosocial needs that can arise in individuals as they journey along their gender and sexual selves.

Herron's new "Be Queer, Do Art" student organization will play an important role in hosting the inaugural LGBTQIA+ Student Forum and a subsequent forum in year two. Each forum is a two-day event that will bring a distinguished LGBTQIA+ artist to the IU Indianapolis campus who will engage with students and faculty and will inspire students to expand their voices and strengthen their sense of belonging.

Using translational research, medical students at the IU School of Medicine hope to establish a Student Outreach Clinic that caters to the healthcare needs of the LGBTQ+ community within South-Central Indiana, filling gaps that exist within our community health system. As a student-run clinic, medical students, alongside a board-certified physician, will be responsible for the care of patients and clinic operations. Our aims are twofold: 1) improve the healthcare experiences of LGBTQ+ living in South-Central Indiana and 2) expose medical students to LGBTQ+ healthcare so that they may be more confident in caring for this population in their future practice.

This project will create and enhance safe spaces and support for LGBTQ+ students at both IU Southeast by 1) revitalized and expanded Safe Zone training (basic and train the trainer) for IU Southeast students, faculty, and staff, 2) a new speaker series to raise awareness and visibility of LGBTQ+ issues on campus. Through these initiatives, LGBTQ+ students at IU Southeast will feel seen and supported.

The QSU would like to invest in a collection of recruiting materials that will last for multiple years. These materials are designed to make QSU a highly visible and recognizable organization at IU events for years to come.

No one in the United States is erased more than Native people, and within that erasure, women and queer Natives remain desperately marginalized. This series replaces that erasure with spaces for self-expression through a Community Collaboration with IU Cinema.