Legal Council Selected as Grantee for Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Wellness and Equity Program
Legal Council for Health Justice is thrilled to be a grantee of the Illinois Department of Human Services’ (IDHS) and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago’s (PHIMC) Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Wellness and Equity Program!
The Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Wellness and Equity Program aims to expand comprehensive and medically necessary care for transgender, gender diverse, and LGBTQ+ communities throughout the state. The program helps organizations already serving LGBTQ+ communities increase their capacity to provide medically- and culturally competent gender-affirming care.
This care will address social determinants of health, historical and contemporary trauma, and their unique impacts on Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color who identify as transgender, gender-diverse, and other LGBTQ+ identities.
Legal Council is joined as a grantee by the following organizations, all of whom are conducting critical work across the state to support and expand gender-affirming care:
- Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University (Springfield)
- Brave Space Alliance (Chicago)
- CALOR (Chicago)
- Center on Halsted (Chicago)
- Centerstone (West Frankfort)
- Central Illinois Friends (Peoria)
- Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (Champaign)
- Chicago House and Social Service Agency (Chicago)
- Chicago Women’s Health Center (Chicago)
- Douglas County Health Department (Tuscola)
- Rainbow Café LGBT+ Center (Carbondale)
- School of Opulence (Chicago)
- The Project of the Quad Cities (Moline)
- Youth Outlook (Naperville)
Legal Council is using these funds to hire an external consulting group—the Care Plan—to provide training to staff on trauma-informed, culturally competent legal representation of trans and gender-diverse folks. This short-term training project will ensure all Legal Council staff, from those who serve clients directly to those who support programs and operations, have a strong foundation of knowledge in working with and providing services to the trans and gender-diverse community.
“We are so grateful to work with the Care Plan,” said Julie Justicz (she/her), Legal Council’s Executive Director. “Not only will the Care Plan’s work undoubtedly improve our culturally competent, trauma-informed care to trans and gender diverse clients, but it will also improve our ability to communicate effectively with one another inside our organization and to build a caring, culturally competent, and supportive workplace where we can all show up as who we are.”
Click here to read the full press release distributed by IDHS and PHIMC.