Inclusion 2.0: workshops ask Costa Rican businesses to open new doors

Camp 4 All is a summer camp for LGBTQ+ teens, providing them with a safe space to be themselves, participate in summer activities and connect with their peers and mentors to build a sense of community amidst the increase of hate crimes and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country.

Several individuals and groups like Columbus Community Deathcare and Live Without Regrets doula services are emerging to offer LGBTQ+ people adequate deathcare as they often don’t have access to the same resources, autonomy or dignity as cisgender people. End-of-life doulas and other providers that embrace the Death Positive Movement are offering holistic care that honors a dying person’s wants and needs while respecting their identity.

The Affirming Spaces Project (ASP) helps local businesses create more affirming spaces for transgender and nonbinary employees and customers by providing training on topics like gender identity, pronoun use and how to use affirming language. Businesses that complete training get added to ASP’s database of affirming businesses and receive a decal to place in their storefront window. The database currently has more than 60 local businesses and organizations listed.

The Gender Diverse Care Coalition of New Hampshire works to expand access to gender-affirming care through free training, consultations with providers, education and advocacy work. The Coalition also has a website that offers a database of resources on gender-affirming care in the state and surrounding area. Through its offerings, the Coalition is working to increase the number of providers in the state who are comfortable and capable of providing care to transgender patients.

Nour Sarah is a collaboration between two non-profits — Spectrum and LebMASH — that aims to help LGBTQ+ people in the North African and West Asian region understand their mental health issues and receive support services. Nour Sarah aims to provide safe care to those who need it in spaces where it’s historically hard to find. The group hosts educational sessions and connects people with counselors trained to provide care to LGBTQ+ people who are drastically under-supported when it comes to accessing mental health care.

The Fostering Connections to Success Act helps aged-out foster children obtain housing, but it's not always easy for LGBTQ+ youth to find safe, accepting places to live. But with the newly implemented Resource Family Approval program, members of area child protective services departments and foster care representatives meet with potential foster families to evaluate how they would support LGBTQ+ youth in their home.

An estimated fifty percent of student leaders in climate strikes and protests around the country are students of color, making these movements all the more relatable, accessible, and inclusive. Because communities of color, especially Black and Carribean communities, will likely be most affected by climate change, this new generation is taking action and linking other social issues like LGBTQ rights and gun control.

The Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center in Akron, Ohio offers LGBTQ+ intimate partner violence survivors the option to stay in local hotels instead of traditional emergency shelters. After implementing LGBTQ+ cultural competency training in 2023, the organization saw a 10% increase in LGBTQ+ survivors accessing their services.

In response to growing political polarization and controversial policies on local NYC school councils, grassroots community groups such as "the Aunties" have mobilized parent engagement through organized protests, canvassing and digital activism. Their efforts have notably raised community awareness, significantly increased parent participation at public council meetings, and compelled influential groups to reconsider key candidate endorsements.

Trans Houses are community shelters created by and for trans women in Bolivia that offer comprehensive health services, psychological support, legal assistance, and entrepreneurship opportunities, evolving from basic assistance spaces into collective emancipation platforms that have served over 2,500 people across four cities and are expanding as a replicable model of social transformation. This story is available in Spanish here: https://solu.news/1qka