Everett LGBTQ+ Youth Center receives $5K Foundation Trust grant

  The Everett LGBTQ+ Youth Space and Resource Center (ELYSARC) recently received a $5,000 grant from the Foundation Trust to support its ongoing work with the city’s LGBTQ+ community.

  “We are excited to receive this grant specifically from a local foundation because along with expanding some of our resources, it will help expand our community connections and outreach,” said Kayla Mangan, co-executive director of the ELYSARC.

  Mangan said part of the funding will be used to host a Black History Month giveaway in concert with the organization’s financial sponsor Rebel Cause, Inc. in Brookline. “This giveaway is important to us because it is part of our mission to center those most marginalized by providing these tangible resources that are otherwise difficult to access,” she said. “Our organizations will be collecting gender-affirming supplies, like binders and COVID-19 PPE [personal protective equipment] to send to Black LGBTQ+ folks throughout the Greater Boston area.”

  Founded in 2021, the ELYSARC is a safe space designed to serve Everett’s LGTBQ+ residents and those in surrounding communities.

  Mangan said the grant funding will also be used to advance the ELYSARC’s capacity in several areas. This will include providing additional hygiene products, school supplies, gender-affirming supplies and clothes. Additional funding will be used to cover transportation costs for residents in need of healthcare services related to their LGBTQ+ experience. The ELYSARC will now be able to offer mutual aid services that were not previously affordable.

  “We are proud to support ELYSARC as they develop this much-needed, supportive space and we’re looking forward to helping staff members leverage trauma-informed resources in their work with guests of the center,” said Foundation Trust Manager Lauren Liecau.