January 10th, 2006

COLAGE FUND APPLICATION DOWNLOAD(Archives)

Grants Are A First for New Orleans-Area LGBT Families.

San Francisco - COLAGE (Children Of Lesbians And Gays Everywhere) announced the first grant program for Hurricane Katrina-related New Orleans area lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-headed households with children under the age of 18. The program is made possible by a grant from The National Youth Advocacy Coalition's Hurricane Katrina LGBT Relief Fund.

"We awarded COLAGE the grant because they had such a strong connection to families in New Orleans," said Craig Bowman. "We created the fund in order to help the LGBT community, and COLAGE is poised and ready to support the fund's goals."

COLAGE is a non-profit organization run by and for children with lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender parents. The organization's mission is to engage, connect, and empower people to make the world a better place for children of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and families. COLAGE has an active and well-established chapter in New Orleans.

"Our families were hit just as hard by Katrina, as other families," said COLAGE Executive Director Beth Teper. "It is our hope that these grants will help fill some gaps in services that our LGBT families are experiencing as they work to recover from this tragic experience."

The grant application is available to individual families Here or by calling (415) 861-KIDS(5437). A COLAGE committee will review all of the applications after the Friday, February 10, 2006 deadline. Grants of $500.00 each will be awarded to the first 60 eligible families to submit complete applications.

"No amount is too small for any family at this stage in the game--anything helps," stated Dale Liuzza, a gay parent who serves on the COLAGE Board of Directors and coordinates the New Orleans chapter. "These grants will help families in many useful ways and show that COLAGE cares for children with LGBT parents and their families."

In the wake of Katrina, the COLAGE staff and chapter coordinator connected New Orleans families with other LGBT families across the country for temporary housing. In addition to grants to individual families, the New Orleans chapter will also receive a grant to conduct family-oriented programming for LGBT families in 2006.

Interviews with LGBT families and COLAGE staff are available upon request.