Growing Together Initiative
The Growing Together Fund was established in 2001 as an initiative of the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation to address the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and Intersex residents of San Luis Obispo County. This Fund was initially funded through grants from the National Lesbian and Gay Funding Partnership. Since 2002, the Community Foundation has distributed over $80,000 in grants to local organizations and established a small endowment. Currently, the Community Foundation is undertaking a targeted major gifts campaign to build the endowment as a permanent source of grantmaking funds to support local needs.
Understanding Need
In order to begin fulfillment of its goals, the Growing Together Advisory Committee commissioned the development and administration of a Community Individual Survey (Survey) in 2001. The survey was again distributed in 2008 to continue the fulfillment of the first goal and track changes in the issues and services needs of the SLO County LBGTQI community from the 2001 sample. It was also intended to gather information about the community’s health and wellbeing, sources of LGBTQI information, and their level of community involvement.
In 2001, over 500 were completed and returned. Additional focus groups were gathered following the initial survey.The survey and additional findings are included below:
- Social Justice Fact Sheet (190K PDF)
- Youth Fact Sheet (212K PDF)
- Elder Fact Sheet (190K PDF)
- Growing Together Fund Community Survey Report, 2004 (275K PDF)
- Growing Together Fund Focus Group Report - LGBT Supportive Mental Health Services, 2003 (230K PDF)
- Addendum to Focus Group Report Findings (117K PDF)
A personal perspective:
Josh Parker:
You either fit the mold, or you did not.
There were a few of us that did not…
download the full story
Catherine Ryan Hyde:
We are all neighbors. And we are only
different on the very surface of ourselves…
download the full story
GTI Endowment Campaign:
A Lasting Community Commitment
To help provide for ongoing needs of the local LGBT community, the GTI Advisory Committee established a $375,000 goal for developing a permanent endowment.
- List of our early donors (254K PDF)
- Capital Campaign Donors (597K PDF)
GALA donation to the Growing Together Endowment Fund - L to R: Photo L to R: Clay Marsh - Secretary of GALA, Robert Kinports - President of GALA, Dean Miller - Board Member of SLOCCF and Janice Fong Wolf - Director of Grants and Programs