MOVING THE NEEDLE ON LGBTQ Enhancing the service experience through organizational transformation

1. MOVING THE NEEDLE ON LGBTQ Enhancing the service experience through organizational transformation Jean-Michel Giraud PPresident/CEO President & CEO

2. Mission & Vision MISSION: To empower individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness to rebuild their lives, with the involvement of the community. VISION: A community and a nation where every person has a place to call home.

3. Our Approach • Organizational Transformation • Person-Centric • Empowering • Strengths-Based • Housing First • Employment First • Listening to participants • Change Agents • Innovation • Continuous practice development • Time as a key element!

4. Our Services Street Outreach Drop-in Medical & Psychiatric Key-In-Hand Sheltering SSVF, Youth & Families Housing First Rapid Rehousing Prevention Employment First

5. A word to leaders to start .. • Say whoyou are and be who you are…disclosure is important.

6. Creating a Safe Environment Your service environment needs to reflect your cultural values. Signs help send a visual message that LGBTQ community members are safe in your environment from the onset.

7. Identify your program space as safe:

8. Changing your organizational culture: • This is a process…work gradually. • Align your organizational values. • Working with participants, staff, Board Members and volunteers for buy-in and “cultural expansion.” • Provide additional sensitivity training. • Invite speakers with life experience and/or professional affinity. • Provide education on local and national trends to frame and broaden the debate. • Identify leaders in your community. • Leaders can be LGBTQ community members and allies.

9. Blend your visual identity:

10. You’re building your base….

11. Look for ways to increase diversity through hiring and Board and volunteer recruitment. • Verbalize this practice. • Hire transgender staff. • Build a culture that promotes self-disclosure and involvement: LGBTQ staff, volunteers and allies are valuable resources and models.

12. Interventions with Participants • Decrypt cultural messages • Explore values • Explore ambivalence and possible biases • Work on acceptance • Discuss “layers” of self-disclosure

13. Structure your interventions: - Identify leaders to create an LGBTQ Committee or Work Group • Train speakers on LGBTQ-related topics • Reach out to the community around you for additional support • Develop ties with LGBTQ groups and publications • Fundraise in the LGBTQ and Allies community

14. Educational Events Help Garner Support and Add Momentum …

15. “YOUNG, LGBTQ AND HOMELESS” Friendship Place’s 2017 LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Symposium at The George Washington University

16. Message inclusion consistently

17. Use your communication channels: • Message inclusion in your regular meetings • Provide progress updates to the staff and Board • Use topics from everyday news

18. LGBTQ Community Members and Allies on the Staff..

19. - Engage your community • Support your Directors when issues arise • Encourage staff to share lived experience in trainings and workshops • Promote advocacy • Encourage people to examine their values and possible biases • Promote language sensitivity • Body language and facial expressions • Do not tolerate insensitive behavior • Get through silence

20. Sara • Sara served in the US military as a man before her transition. She transitioned following her discharge and has worked in a number of different roles in human services. She currently works as a case manager in our SSVF Program: Veterans First. As a transgender woman of color, she has experienced employment and housing discrimination. She shares this experience along with her successful transition with staff in workshops.

21. Sara’s Advocacy Work • Sara works with Equality Virginia and is a member of theTransgender Advocacy Speakers’ Bureau. LGBT-affirming faith communities open their doors to transgender advocates who facilitate conversations about their own life stories, while providing a forum for participants to engage in a question-and-answer dialogue.  • Equality Virginia works with Virginia’s elected leaders to amplify the voices of the LGBT community and move towards full legal equality across the Commonwealth through vigorous lobbying efforts, engaging thousands of Virginians in grassroots advocacy, and connecting supporters with their legislators.

22. Sara’s Story on Huffington Post • Jean-Michel Giraud, Contributor • “Kinder Eyes on the Transgender Community” • 09/26/2017 •  My Huffington Post blog is on homelessness, inclusion and equity:

23. Sara in Out Magazine in 2017 • A story on transgender veterans

24. Add Value: • Find Local leaders in your Mayor’s LGBTQ Office • Engage National leaders like Diego Sanchez. Diego shared his experience as a transgender Latino man during our symposium last year. • Speak freely, clearly and with confidence and keep broadening your spectrum!

25. Celebrate Diversity!

26. Cultural Competency Perspective • Inscribe LGBTQ in the broader cultural competency framework of your organization. • This helps ground and sustain your work in this area.

27. Contact Information • Jean-Michel Giraud, President/CEO • Friendship Place • 202-503-2961 • jgiraud@friendshipplace.org

28. FriendshipPlace.org Administrative Offices 3655 Calvert St. NW Washington, DC 20007 202.503.2961 FriendshipplaceDC @friendshipplace