Erie Community Foundation donates $15,000 for LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention
Advocates of the LGBTQ+ community say it's more important now than ever before to provide safe spaces for everyone.
That's why the Erie Community Foundation continues to support the work that goes into it as well.
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Statistics show that LGBTQ+ youth have higher risks of anxiety, depression, and suicidal tendencies than other groups. And investments into nonprofits like Compton's Table are what can help tip the scale in the other direction.
'Over the past several months we've seen several executive orders that have really been targeting the trans and the queer community stripping us of rights that we've been fighting for for centuries and decades really,' said Tyler Titus, the founder of Compton's Table.
Titus said a statistic that keeps them up at night is a staggering 50% of LGBTQ youth have regular instances of suicidal ideation.
And it's why groups like the Erie Community Foundation are continuing to support the work of nonprofits like Compton's Table.
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'The LGBT fund is a really special group of people who are so passionate about turning around, taking their own experience as community members, or their passions as allies and using that to drive improvements for the LGBTQ+ community and this grant is a really perfect example of that,' said Olivia Burgess, director of collective giving for the Erie Community Foundation.
The community foundation's LGBT fund is awarding $15,000 to Compton's Table to support youth programs.
True North is a four-session life skills and empowerment program meant to help LGBTQ people ages 16-24.
It gives them skills in things like career development, budgeting, self-care and beyond promoting confidence and resilience.
Chat n' chill is what it sounds like, a safe space for peer groups to connect for open conversations regarding whatever might be happening in their lives.
'It was life-changing. I was able to learn life skills like how to cook, clean, be a good roommate and live with other people. They break it down into these nice bite-sized lessons each week so it's not too overwhelming for people. Especially when you're young, queer, and maybe even neurodivergent, it can be harder to absorb information like that,' said Sunny, a mentor at True North for Compton's Table.
'We need to create these people where can just show up as their full authentic self and just do things that teen and young adults do,' Titus went on to say.
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Titus said studies show that all it takes is just for one adult to be accepting of that individual and the risk of suicidal ideologies decreases by 40%.
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