The Senior Rainbow Assistance Program: Champions of LGBTQ Seniors
This month of June is a time to celebrate #Pride Month and here at H.O.M.E. we believe that the best communities are the most inclusive ones! As advocates of elderly adults, H.O.M.E. believes that all aging adults, regardless of race, sex, or sexual orientation deserve the opportunity to remain independent and age with grace safely within their own homes. In the spirit of inclusion and community, we would like to introduce you to our community partner, The Senior Rainbow Assistance Program.
The Senior Rainbow Assistance Program was founded in 2019 with a vision to provide LGBTQ seniors with the support they need to remain safe, warm, and healthy at a time of most need. This idea started because of a significant life change through the loss of one of our own incomes. We were fortunate to have a plan and support from family and friends. But there were the “what ifs.” What if we didn’t have savings? What if we were older? What if we didn't have family support? What if we had a family to support? So, we started to plan and build our “Three C’s: Compassion, Communication, Commitment.”
In August 2019, we introduced the Senior Rainbow Assistance Program to our friends and family. We highlighted our Compassion. Our Compassion and respect for all members of the LGBTQ community. And our Compassion and respect for all members of the Senior community. Senior Rainbow’s main program was to offer assistance to LGBTQ seniors with groceries or utilities, so they didn’t have to choose between food or medications. We were able to Communicate our Compassion and Commitment and had what we considered a very successful Kick-Off event that raised nearly $4000. We now had something to build on and to plan for. Until March of 2020.
COVID-19 changed the world. We had plans to visit local agencies and senior centers to offer our services, but now the doors were closed. How were we to raise more funds when we could not be in the same space as other people? Our team at Senior Rainbow had to pivot and adjust. Our original vision was to help senior LGBTQ Illinoisians, but when our very first applicant told us she lost her long-term job due to the pandemic, we realized there might be a greater need for a different reason. Senior Rainbow still honored the commitment to seniors, but we soon also accepted those 18-55 years old who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. This pivot was good for the whole LGBTQ community because we then were awarded our first grant from Chicago Foundation for Women (www.cfw.org).
In the late 2020 & early 2021, as the world continued to be closed, we solidified partnerships with agencies such as Center on Halsted, AgeOptions, Howard Brown and H.O.M.E. Applicants and relationships come through these agencies, and we expand our reach to more and more people in need. In October and December 2020, we conducted webinars via Zoom to the Sage Program at West Suburban Senior Services and AgeOptions, respectively. These were great experiences to communicate our message. One takeaway from the presentations was why we did not have a housing element to our program.
We started Senior Rainbow in hopes of keeping people in their homes and at this point, we had helped over a dozen people with their grocery or utility bills, but our applicants were also asking about rental assistance. Because of COVID-19, more government programs for food, utility and housing assistance were being utilized. Unfortunately, many of these programs took time to get accepted into. We asked ourselves, could Senior Rainbow be that short-term bridge to get people through the immediate challenge? So, we looked to expand.
Our original Basic Necessities program offered assistance in two $250 payments for groceries or utilities. In March 2021, we expanded our Basic Necessities Program to increase an applicant’s lifetime assistance amount to $1500 and introduced our long-awaited housing assistance. We reached out to a partner agency to offer their clients additional money, and several took advantage. One such applicant was Thomas L., whose fixed income could not cover his rent and groceries. We were able to help him earlier in the fall and he was very grateful for any assistance we could give. In March, we reached out to Center on Halsted to have him be our first housing assistance client. Thomas L. was working with social workers on applying for subsidized housing, but help was months away. Senior Rainbow was able to supplement Thomas’s rent until permanent solutions could be found.
Since the inception of our Basic Necessities program, we have been able to provide over $10,000 in assistance to help 19 members of the LGBTQ community remain safe, warm, and healthy! We truly appreciate all the support and commitment we have received from our donors for this program and look forward to continued service to the LGBTQ Senior Community in Illinois through their generosity.
