Midlands LGBT+ Project to continue operating into 2024
The Midlands LGBT+ Project will continue providing services in 2024, after it secured funding and donations to ensure it remained open.
In recent weeks, the support and advocacy service for LGBT+ adults in Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Kildare said it would be unable to continue in operation beyond November 31, after it had failed to secure key funding from the Government through the LGBTI+ Community Services Funding.
It had received this funding for the past three years but will not receive funding for the coming year due to the fund being oversubscribed.
However, this week, the organisation said: “We are thrilled to announce that as a result of every one of you, and countless others, small grants, big grants, donations and purchases, we will be able to continue providing all of our services into 2024.
“This is not at all the end of our concerns but it will let us rest easy knowing there is support available for LGBT+ people in the Midlands for now and we will continue to work tirelessly to make sure it stays that way. We ask that you continue to spread the word, help us to fundraise and support us to keep our doors open until we can find a more long term solution.”
The Midlands LGBT+ Project team said service users and those in the local communities had “come out and shown up in ways we never expected. From rallying their TDs and local councillors, to donating, purchasing our merch and flooding us with offers of help, words of support and encouragement.”
“Behind the scenes we have been applying for grants, pleading with every avenue we have to help us continue our services, and in the long days of doing so, messages from you all with how important the service is to the community kept our spirits high and our determination strong.”
The team said it was “over the moon” to be able to make this announcement and thanked everyone who helped them over “a very difficult few weeks.”
Each month the support service runs approximately 15 social and support groups across the midlands supporting an estimated 200 people per month. These range from trans support groups, an over 50s group, queer book clubs to coffee meetups and sports groups.
You can donate to project or buy one of their t-shirts or tote bags them on their website www.midlandslgbtproject.com/support
Welcoming the news, Councillor Mark Hackett said; “Offaly is a county where the rural LGBT+ Community feel extra isolation. I have worked with the Project on many occasions and the work they do to counteract that isolation is so essential here. From support and social services to visibility and awareness. At a local level, I’m proud to say that the Green Party in Offaly, Laois, Westmeath and Kildare really rallied to get behind the project at this difficult time to ensure that funding was secured through every possible avenue.
“I’m delighted that the efforts to ensure this essential service is maintained have paid off.” Minister Pippa Hackett added: “While this is not the end of the concerns for the Midlands LGBT+ Project, their securing of funding, through a number of sources, means that vital supports remain available for LGBT+ people in the Midlands. “I have given my commitment to the Project to continue to work with my colleague, Minister O’Gorman, to ensure that they remain funded into the future.”