NW Youth Services Announces Grand Opening of The Q Center for LGBTQIAS
May 07, 2024
Northwest Youth Services is excited to announce the launch of the first and only LGBTQ+ center between Seattle, WA and Vancouver, Canada. The Q Center, created by Northwest Youth Services in partnership with Bellingham Queer Collective, is Whatcom County’s inaugural Queer Community Center.
The Q Center will serve as a gathering space for Whatcom’s queer community members of all ages to connect and access resources. One side of the center will house Queer Youth Services (QYS), providing LGBTQIA2S+ young individuals ages 13-25 with the resources and support necessary for living healthy, fulfilling lives as their authentic selves. QYS offers gender-affirming care through resource navigation, the trans fashion treasury, regular queer youth meetups, advocacy, training, and connections to a network of agencies and service providers that uphold and support the self-identified goals and needs of queer youth.
The other entrance of the Q center will house the Bellingham Queer Collective and other non-profits in the community that are focused on supporting LGBTQIA2S+ folks. The new BQC Community Center will provide a critical inclusive third space, outside of home and work, for our 18+ intergenerational LGBTQ+ community members to gather Downtown. The Bellingham Queer Collective Center will be used for affinity group meetups, workshops and classes, game and movie nights, a curated lending library, a quiet reading/workspace, organizational meetings, resource navigation; housing, food, jobs, gender affirming care and supplies, and clothing.
Northwest Youth Services will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening of the Q Center on May 17, providing an opportunity for attendees to tour the facility, learn about the services offered, and meet our staff. This event is by invitation only – for more details, please email schantellp@nwys.org.
For more information, media inquiries, or to register for the ribbon cutting please contact:
Schantell Porter | Senior Director of Community Engagement
Northwest Youth Services
Schantellp@nwys.org
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About Northwest Youth Services: Northwest Youth Services' mission is to affirm youth experience and autonomy as we work together to foster collective healing and justice in order to dismantle the systems of oppression that perpetuate youth homelessness. At Northwest Youth Services, we believe this is attainable by focusing on participants’ holistic selves and well-being, not just their trauma or symptoms. We employ radical innovative services and care models that go beyond physical well-being to build social capital in partnership with young people, 13 to 24-year-olds experiencing homelessness or unstable housing. Our philosophy of care centers around three concepts: Learn, Create, and Connect. https://www.nwys.org/
About Bellingham Queer Collective: The Bellingham queer collective connects, celebrates, unites, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. https://www.bellinghamqueercollective.org/
The Q Center will serve as a gathering space for Whatcom’s queer community members of all ages to connect and access resources. One side of the center will house Queer Youth Services (QYS), providing LGBTQIA2S+ young individuals ages 13-25 with the resources and support necessary for living healthy, fulfilling lives as their authentic selves. QYS offers gender-affirming care through resource navigation, the trans fashion treasury, regular queer youth meetups, advocacy, training, and connections to a network of agencies and service providers that uphold and support the self-identified goals and needs of queer youth.
The other entrance of the Q center will house the Bellingham Queer Collective and other non-profits in the community that are focused on supporting LGBTQIA2S+ folks. The new BQC Community Center will provide a critical inclusive third space, outside of home and work, for our 18+ intergenerational LGBTQ+ community members to gather Downtown. The Bellingham Queer Collective Center will be used for affinity group meetups, workshops and classes, game and movie nights, a curated lending library, a quiet reading/workspace, organizational meetings, resource navigation; housing, food, jobs, gender affirming care and supplies, and clothing.
Northwest Youth Services will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening of the Q Center on May 17, providing an opportunity for attendees to tour the facility, learn about the services offered, and meet our staff. This event is by invitation only – for more details, please email schantellp@nwys.org.
For more information, media inquiries, or to register for the ribbon cutting please contact:
Schantell Porter | Senior Director of Community Engagement
Northwest Youth Services
Schantellp@nwys.org
###
About Northwest Youth Services: Northwest Youth Services' mission is to affirm youth experience and autonomy as we work together to foster collective healing and justice in order to dismantle the systems of oppression that perpetuate youth homelessness. At Northwest Youth Services, we believe this is attainable by focusing on participants’ holistic selves and well-being, not just their trauma or symptoms. We employ radical innovative services and care models that go beyond physical well-being to build social capital in partnership with young people, 13 to 24-year-olds experiencing homelessness or unstable housing. Our philosophy of care centers around three concepts: Learn, Create, and Connect. https://www.nwys.org/
About Bellingham Queer Collective: The Bellingham queer collective connects, celebrates, unites, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. https://www.bellinghamqueercollective.org/
