In observation of LGBTQ+ History Month, ABC13 Houston and ABC Owned Television Stations are connecting viewers with resources serving the needs of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming and queer communities.
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Where to Get Help in Houston
Career, Housing & Wealth
BakerRipley: BakerRipley connects low-income families and individuals to opportunity so they can achieve the life they've imagined. Offers access to rent and utility assistance, education, job and career development, immigration and citizenship services, senior services, free tax help, disaster recovery and more.
Covenant House Texas: Welcomes all homeless youth in need of support, housing, employment and medical care. Provides assistance to LGBTQ+ youth with transgender-specific healthcare for name/gender marker changes. A drop-in center is available 24 hours a day, where youth ages 18-24 can use their laundry, showers, a clinic, and recreational facilities, including meals.
Goodwill Industries of Houston: We educate, train, and hire individuals with barriers to employment to help them thrive. We connect people, families, and communities to improve lives and to meet the workforce needs of today and tomorrow.
Houston Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program: Administered by the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and BakerRipley, the fund provides $159 million in rent and utilities assistance to families who are struggling.
Houston Housing Authority: The Houston Housing Authority provides affordable homes and services to more than 58,000 low-income Houstonians, including over 17,000 families housed through the Housing Choice Voucher Program and another 5,700 living in 25 public housing and tax credit developments around the city. HHA also administers the nation's third largest voucher program exclusively serving homeless veterans.
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Montrose Grace Place: The organization envisions a world where youth of all sexualities and gender identities have a safe place to exist and a future without judgement. Monday and Thursday is "Youth night," where all youth ages 13-24 are welcome to join for a family-style meal, followed by an interactive activity. There is also an opportunity to browse through their closet of donated supplies.
Workforce Solutions: The Gulf Coast Workforce Board and its operating affiliate Workforce Solutions are the public workforce system in the 13-county Houston-Galveston region of Texas. The board helps employers meet their human resource needs and individuals build careers, so both can compete in the global economy.
Health
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation : Provides free screenings for sexually-transmitted diseases like chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV in the Houston area and nationwide. AHF Wellness Centers provide information about STDs, safer sex, cryotherapy treatments for genital warts, and referrals to doctors who specialize in HIV for anyone who tests positive.
Hatch Youth: Works along with The Montrose Center, serving the LGBTQ+ adolescents of the Houston area. They offer role models and peer support, along with assistance in health and educational needs. Zoom meetings are hosted every Tuesday 5-7 p.m., Friday 7-9 p.m., and Sunday 6-8 p.m..
Houston Food Bank: America's largest food bank in distribution leads hunger relief in 18 southeast Texas counties. The Houston Food Bank distributes food and other essentials to those in need through a network of 1,500 community partners.
Kids Meals Inc: Our mission is to end childhood hunger by delivering free healthy meals to the doorsteps of Houston's hungriest preschool-aged children and through collaboration provide their families with resources to help end the cycle of poverty.
LGBT Switchboard Houston - 24 Hour Helpline: Provides resources to deal with depression, suicide and crisis intervention; domestic violence help and shelter; sexual assault and hate crimes support; additional support and treatment; HIV & STD information; LGBT-affiriming resources; and community events and visitor information.
Legacy Community Health: Provides adult primary care, pediatrics, dental care, vision services, behavioral health services, OB/GYN and maternity, vaccinations and immunizations, health promotion and community outreach, wellness and nutrition, and comprehensive HIV/AIDS care on a sliding scale.
Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston and Galveston County: Interfaith Ministries' program provides home-delivered meals to approximately 4,900 homebound seniors and disabled adults in five counties. The program also delivers weekend meals and a week's worth of breakfast to about a quarter of our most frail and isolated clients.
The Montrose Center: Provides around the clock, scattered site emergency shelter for LGBT survivors of domestic violence, as well as transitional housing. Advocacy and counseling services also are available.
Prevention Park Health Center: Planned Parenthood is one of the nation's leading providers of high-quality, affordable health care, and the nation's largest provider of sex education. With or without insurance, you can always come to us for your health care.
Pride Charities: Pride Charities offers a food pantry and a clothes closet available to anyone in need. They are open on the first and third Tuesday of each month from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. It is also open on the second, third and fourth Saturday of each month from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
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Education
Black Queer Resource Center for Liberation: BQ+ is dedicated to building community resources through programming, events, and collaboration that reduces the incidence and effect of HIV, creating and procuring employment opportunities, housing a community burial fund in partnership with community organizations, building knowledge around policy and advocacy, and providing support groups for issues like intimate-partner violence, racial injustice, and social injustice
Out for Education: One of the most successful LGBTQ+ scholarship-granting foundations in the United States, dedicated to the purpose of providing scholarships to Houston-area LGBTQ+ youth.
Pride Houston Scholarship: Pride Houston aims to assist the LGBTQI+ community through many different efforts, including the assistance to high school and college students with scholarships.
UH LGBTQ Resource Center Consolidated Scholarship: The LGBTQ Resource Center oversees about 1-5 scholarships.
Policing & Safety
Houston Peace & Justice Center: HPJC serves as an action center for peace and justice efforts. We provide peace education, activism training, and collaborative resources for individuals, families, and organizations throughout the Greater Houston area to build a just, non-violent community.
LGBT Switchboard Houston - 24 Hour Helpline: Provides domestic violence help and shelter; sexual assault and hate crimes support.
Texas Law Help: Free legal help for victims and survivors of domestic abuse.