EQUALITY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE

The Equality California Mentorship Corps provides LGBTQ+ affirming mentorship to students in Fresno Unified School District, located in California’s Central Valley. Through a combination of social-emotional learning, motivational interviewing, and opportunities to engage the broader local community of LGBTQ+ community-based organizations, the Mentorship Corps seeks to improve the well-being of LGBTQ+ and other students over the course of an academic year and create a safe and supportive school environment.
Between 20 and 24 AmeriCorps members provide weekly mentorship to as many as 120 students each year, using a curriculum that employs motivational interviewing, an evidence-based technique that prioritizes autonomy and independent decision making, and includes content that is both trauma-informed and LGBTQ+ affirming. In partnership with Fresno Unified School District, Equality California Institute developed a social-emotional learning assessment tool, which measures changes in student well-being over the course of the mentorship. Students are referred to mentorship by teachers, school counselors, parents, and others. These same AmeriCorps members also partner alongside LGBTQ+ community-based organizations during the school year, in order to provide mentees and their peers with opportunities to engage local resources and attend LGBTQ+ affirming events and programs.

#WillBeCounted was Equality California Institute’s statewide census campaign to engage and encourage California's LGBTQ+ community– in particular, LGBTQ+ Californians who also belong to other hard-to-count populations – to participate in the 2020 Census. Equality California Institute, with the support of local community-based partners, conducted face-to-face outreach at LGBTQ+ Pride events across the state, developed a comprehensive and educational communications campaign targeting LGBTQ+ people and operated a robust phone and text bank program reaching LGBTQ+ Californians quarantined due to COVID-19. Equality California Institute sent more than 200,000 text messages reminding people to complete the 2020 Census, collected over 5,000 pledges to complete the census, and partnered with 22 community organizations.

With the close of the 2020 Census, a crucial window opens for community groups to advocate for changes to district lines that consolidate and amplify the voting power of historically marginalized voting blocks, especially LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, Asian American and Pacific Islander and Latinx people. Equality California Institute has a successful model for this work, implemented in 2011, which has made it possible for us to build greater political power for the LGBTQ+ community and a pipeline of LGBTQ+ elected leadership and allies in local and state government. In the coming months, Equality California Institute proposes to build on our significant census outreach in California and redirect the energies of our coalition partners and communities from census work and to redistricting.

COVID-19 and accompanying the economic fallout have created acute vulnerability for a great many of the 3.9 million LGBTQ+ individuals estimated to live in California. This is because LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to have pre-existing conditions, work in COVID-19 impacted industries, and be facing the oncoming recession with limited resources. Equality California Institute is deeply invested in ensuring that LGBTQ+ people have support in navigating available resources and in identifying LGBTQ+ friendly and centered services.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Equality California Institute launched a COVID-19 LGBTQ+ Help Center and a COVID-19 LGBTQ+ Community Health Outreach program. The Help Center is an extensive, online directory of national, statewide, and regional resources and support services available to LGBTQ+ people and their communities. LGBTQ+ friendly and/or specific services are clearly marked for ease and confidence in navigating resources. Meanwhile, the community health outreach program is a statewide campaign to educate and engage LGBTQ+ Californians around COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and availability, testing, workplace safety and other key prevention methods. Both programs connect our community with the tools, resources, and support they need during this devastating crisis.

Until our nation has a just and functional immigration system, we do not have full and lasting LGBTQ+ equality. Undocumented LGBTQ+ people and those seeking asylum face tremendous negative effects on their social well-being for being members of two marginalized groups. Improving the lives of LGBTQ+ undocumented Californians requires that we improve the lives of ALL undocumented Californians.
In 2016, Equality California Institute led a coalition of immigration-focused LGBTQ+ centers from across California, which worked to educate LGBTQ+ people and the broader community of immigration activists on the compounded disparities that LGBTQ+ undocumented Californians face. We are currently seeking funding partners who can help us rebuild and expand this coalition in 2021.

Equality California Institute’s LGBTQ+ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training provides information and resources to healthcare and homeless service professionals and organizations looking to provide inclusive, equitable, and affirming care to LGBTQ+ people. The training, available live and via online, self-paced learning modules, promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion and offers practitioners a range of tools to better identify and serve the needs of LGBTQ+ clients. The training emphasizes the intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and class, and walks through data and best practices related to LGBTQ+ health and well-being.
To date, Equality California Institute has trained more than 3,400 healthcare providers and community leaders, empowering them to provide culturally competent quality care to LGBTQ+ patients and clients. In 2021, Equality California Institute launched an online self-paced learning version of the training for healthcare providers, dramatically expanding program reach. Specialized online modules include patient care for people living with, or vulnerable to, HIV and, starting in fall 2021, increasing HPV vaccination uptake in LGBTQ+ young people. In the coming year, we plan to increasing the scope of program impact yet again through the launch an online version of the training for homeless service providers.

For decades, Big Tobacco has targeted the LGBTQ+ community specifically, resulting in significantly higher rates of smoking and use of other tobacco products and the health problems associated with them. Together with our partners, Equality California has launched OUT Against Big Tobacco, a coalition-backed campaign to expose Big Tobacco for preying on the LGBTQ+ community and profiting off our deaths. Nearly 24% of California’s LGBTQ+ population uses tobacco products, compared to just 17% of adults who don’t identify as LGBTQ+. Estimates of smoking rates among LGBTQ+ youth range from 38% to 59%, compared to 28% to 35% of youth generally.
In partnership with the California Tobacco Control Program, Equality California Institute has launched multi-year advocacy and education coalitions in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley designed to raise awareness about tobacco use disparities and educate lawmakers on the importance of common-sense policies to prevent bit tobacco from profiting off the deaths of LGBTQ+ people.

The Equality California Institute Leadership Summit brings together 100 - 200 LGBTQ+ leaders each year to network, learn about various policy issues, and discuss legislation at both the state and federal level. It also serves as a way for those interested in seeking higher office, particularly state Senate or Assembly seats, to meet with leaders of Equality California and members of the California LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus. This work is in partnership with Edison International and the California LGBTQ+ Congressional Caucus. 100 openly LGBTQ+ leaders attended our virtual 2020 Leadership Summit.

LGBTQ+ people have traditionally been underrepresented in appointed boards, commissions, and offices at the federal, state and local levels. These positions provide the opportunity to have an immediate and lasting impact on pressing policy issues and are a pathway to elected office, corporate advancement, or other leadership opportunities. The Equality California Institute Leadership Academy helps to ensure a seat at the table for members of the LGBTQ+ community and will produce visible role models for LGBTQ+ youth.
The program brings together mid-career LGBTQ+ leaders to develop their leadership skills and to prepare them for appointments corporate or public sector boards and to run for office. This work is in partnership with Edison International. In 2020, we prepared 32 LGBTQ+ leaders to seek elected or appointed office.
Following the LGBTQ+ Leadership Academy, Equality California Institute offers ongoing, tailored coaching and guidance to support fellows in securing roles in public service on boards and local and statewide commissions. This includes assistance in finding tailored opportunities and procuring both letters of support and personal endorsements. In 2020, Equality California Institute wrote nine letters of recommendation for appointment on behalf of LGBTQ+ leaders; four were ultimately selected for appointment.

With the generous support of the Comcast Foundation, Equality California Institute hosts an annual class of summer legislative fellows in Sacramento, where they experience the policymaking process firsthand and network with the state’s top LGBTQ+ leaders. Selected through a competitive application process, six undergraduate fellows from across California are placed in the Sacramento offices of pro-equality legislators, including members of the California LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus. Fellows gain first-hand experience working with legislators, policymakers, and their staff and develop key leadership skills. Fellows also meet with prominent community members and LGBTQ+ leaders from diverse backgrounds to learn how advocacy and public service can fuel meaningful policy change. In 2020, we were honored to host 10 students in the Comcast Fellowship program.