2012 Chicago LGBT Community Needs Assessment

Morten Group, LLC, on behalf of the LGBT Community Fund of The Chicago Community Trust, conducted the Chicago LGBT Community Needs Assessment in the fall of 2011. Over an 11-week field period stretching from October to December of that year, more than 2,000 individuals made their voices heard in the needs assessment by filling out an online survey or data card, completing a telephone interview, or participating in a focus group. Data analysis, led by methodological lead Dr. Keisha Farmer-Smith, took place during the first half of 2012. 

On June 27, 2012, the data was released to the public for the first time in a community presentation and press briefing at Howard Brown Health Center. The second community presentation of the results report took place on October 2, 2012, at the National Museum of Mexican Art. The third presentation took place on December 11, 2012, at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, co-hosted by Affinity Community Services, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, and the Office of LGBTQ Student Life at the University of Chicago. The fourth presentation took place on March 8, 2013, at the Donors Forum, as part of a meeting with Donors Forum Grantmaking Members and Advisory Associate Members. 

In addition, Morten Group developed an organizational service & capacity assessment tool for organizations providing LGBT services as a follow-up to the LCNA survey. The assessment tool is designed to further identify organizations currently providing services within The LGBT Community Fund priority areas: Healthcare, Employment, Housing, Violence Prevention, Support for Accessing Practical Resources, and Behavioral Health Services. This Organizational Service & Capacity Evaluation Tool supports The Chicago Community Trust in identifying organizations in Chicago that may be LGBT-serving and may offer programs within the fund priority areas. 

Additionally, the survey tool helps establish a baseline for evaluating each organization’s capacity to effectively deliver services, identify existing collaborations among organizations, and assess the compatibility of proposed programs with existing funding priorities. 

LGBT Community Fund first-round grantees:

• About Face Theatre

• The Chicago Gay Black Men’s Chorus

• Adler University’s LGBTQ Mental Health and Inclusion Center

• Affinity Community Services

• Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

• Association of Latino/as Motivating Action (ALMA)

• Broadway United Methodist Church

• Chicago Filmmakers

• Leather Archives and Museum, Inc. 

• Project Fierce Chicago

• RAD Remedy

• Thousand Waves Martial Arts and Self-Defense Center

• Transformative Justice Project of Illinois

• Youth Empowerment Performance Project