Program Areas

The Palette Fund supports organizations that address the needs of the LGBT community, and focuses its efforts on building a more inclusive environment by investing in the potential of LGBT youth.  In 2011, there will also be a new push to look at programs that work directly with runaway and homeless Queer Youth, an often over-looked problem that is growing, misunderstood by the public and under funded as a result.

Our Current Programs Include

True Colors Fund & Homeless LGBT Youth

In conjunction with Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Fund, Palette will work over the first half of 201 to assess the needs of homeless youth among the lesbian, gay and transgendered communities, and create a plan for meeting the need nationwide. Cyndi Lauper recently said, “I am deeply honored that The Palette Fund has partnered with The True Colors Fund.  I look forward to creating solutions together that can help address the growing number of kids being thrown out of their homes or running away out of fear and despair.  I am very hopeful that through our collaboration we will be able to make a significant impact in these young people’s lives.”

Jeffrey Fashion Cares

Jeffrey Fashion Cares was established in 1992 in Atlanta, GA, by Jeffrey Kalinsky, fashion pioneer and community leader. He launched the first-ever Jeffrey Fashion Cares event to heighten awareness of the plight of people living with HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTQ community. When Jeffrey brought his fashion show and reception benefit to New York in 2003, he brought with it a legacy of community involvement and philanthropy. In just 8 years, the event has raised almost $4 Million for LGBT and LGBT youth charities here in New York City.  This is the only event Palette will sponsor in 2011 as more than 90% of every dollar raised goes directly to the four benefiting charities: Hetrick Martin Institute, Lamba Legal, Point Foundation  and GMHC.  The event was held aboard the Intrepid on March 28th.  Palette’s sponsorship money dedicated to each organization served as our grant to each for 2011.

The National LGBT Cancer Network

Palette’s Two Year Grant to The National LGBT Cancer Network has been awarded for the organizations innovative program, “Take Care of That Body,” to reduce health disparities for a vulnerable population: LGBT cancer survivors and those at risk.  This grant will enable the campaign to go from a local level in New York to a national level.

Stonewall’s Out In Front New York

Out in Front New York is an initiative of the Stonewall Community Foundationk to cultivate the next generation of nonprofit leaders in the LGBTQ community, particularly those interested or active in board service. Over the course of four months, through five day-long sessions, a diverse group of 15 to 25 participants will learn what it means to lead an organization with confidence, practice the skills essential to doing so effectively and responsibly, and build lasting relationships in the process. The program begins in March of 2011. Interested applicants can apply by clicking here.

Point Foundation Scholarship and Internship Pilot Program

Point Foundation is the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBT students of merit. Point Provides financial support, leadership training, mentoring and hope to LGBT individuals who have been marginalized because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

In conjunction with Point, The Palette Fund is excited to announce The Rand Skolnick Point Scholarship, which provides support and assistance each year, in perpetuity, to an exceptional LGBT student who has demonstrated leadership and potential. Point’s first scholar receiving this honor is Derek Blechinger to attend The University of Washington School of Medicine.  Read more about Derek on Terrence Meck’s Blog.

We are also thrilled to announce our sponsorship of Point Foundation’s 2011 Non-Profit Internship Program. This program provides three Point Scholars with full-time career-related work experience in order to connect their academic preparation to their career aspirations. The 2011 summer internships are all dealing with homeless and runaway LGBT youth serving organizations.

New York LGBT Center

The New York LGBT Center has received a three year grant to its Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Program, which serves more than 1,000 young people ages 13-22 every year.  The program’s state funding was discontinued last year, meaning that Palette’s funding will enable it to stave off cuts to its services.  Through peer education, leadership training internships and YES summer camp, YES mobilizes young people to be agents of change.  These programs train young people as community leaders, including self-confidence; facilitating community meetings; building community with their peers; and teaching workshops for other youth around racism, body image, grief and loss, substance abuse, and HIV prevention.

Out in America

Out in America is an upcoming PBS documentary on the day-to-day lives of LGBT Americans from the 1950s to the present day, by Emmy Award-winning producer Andrew Goldberg.  Airing nationally on PBS on June 8th, Out in America is an uplifting collection of unique, transformative stories and inspiring personal narratives told through the lens of the country’s most prominent LGBT figures and pioneers, as well as many average, yet extraordinary, citizens from the LGBT community.  The Palette Fund’s grant for school outreach will make sure that this film is not only seen on PBS, but also used as an educational resource to schools across the country.

Family Acceptance Project

The Family Acceptance Project (FAP) is a community research, intervention, education and policy initiative that is designed to: improve the health, mental health, and well-being of LGBT children and adolescents; strengthen and help ethnically and religiously diverse families support their LGBT children; help LGBT youth stay in their homes to prevent homelessness and the need for custodial care in the foster care and juvenile justice systems; inform public policy and family policy; and develop a new evidence-based, family model of wellness, prevention, and care to promote well-being and decrease risk for LGBT youth. 

Queer Youth Fund

Liberty Hill’s Queer Youth Fund makes multi-year grants to grassroots, local, state or national nonprofit organizations located anywhere in the United States working to improve the quality of life among gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (GLBTQQ) youth. Youth are defined as 24 years old and younger. The Queer Youth Fund awards grants to innovative and effective leadership development programs or organizing projects that empower GLBTQQ youth to improve societal conditions affecting GLBTQQ youth and that make a long-term difference to their movement.

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