Pride Action Tank | Projects
Pride Action Tank’s projects focus on our six overlapping core issue areas: housing, health, safety, financial security, youth and aging.
Pride Action Tank brings together and supports the work of subject matter experts as well as people directly impacted by challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community to envision and realize practical and longer-term policy solutions.
How I see myself, How I want To be seen: LGBTQ+ Older Adults Photo Project
Community Restroom Access Project (C.R.A.P.)
Public restrooms can be a source of stress and anxiety for transgender and gender nonconforming people.
C.R.A.P. is a group of concerned Illinoisans working with Pride Action Tank for new solutions to provide accessible bathrooms for all.
Co-Creating Futures: A BIPOC LGBTQ+ Policy & Practices Summit
What does a future designed by and for our marginalized communities look like? And how do we create it? This summit is a call to all Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) LGBTQ+ Illinoisans to join us in answering these questions and mapping out a future that centers our communities and our voices.
Download the Co-Creating Futures Report (pdf)
OUTAging: Summit on Our Possibilities took place on May 23 – 25, 2017. The summit was organized by a small, diverse planning committee that included LGBTQ older adults. Learn more about the summit here.
The OutAging Committee continues to work together with the goal to: Create a platform that centers the voices and experiences of LGBTQ older adults to shed light on the issues they face and gaps in services, resources and opportunities, Provide a diverse and inclusive forum for redefining aging and care and
Develop an agenda for advocacy, resources and inclusion with and for LGBTQ older adults.
Outreach for Safe Older Adult Living
Toolkit for LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency
Storytelling for Change (video)
Advocating For Change-Legislative Breakfast (video)
Advocating for LGBTQ Older Adults (pdf)
Building Networks for Change -April 22 (video)
For Change: Lessons Learned from Engaging LGBTQ+ Older Adults for Advocacy (video)
Pride Action Tank, the Windy City Times, along with lead sponsor Polk Bros. Foundation hosted a discussion about using tiny homes to house youth who are experiencing homelessness. The Tiny Home Summit was held at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Summit topics included financing, housing as HIV prevention and public policy issues. Visit the Tiny Home Summit website here. View videos of summit sessions here
Housing Instability in Higher Education
On April 6, 2017, Pride Action Tank hosted a convening on housing instability on college campuses. The event was one in a series of activities PAT has organized around youth homelessness. The convening led to the creation of a toolkit for colleges and universities. Download the toolkit Supporting College Students Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Instability here
Pride Action Tank partnered with Women Employed to address issues related to financial security in the LGBTQ+ community. In July of 2017, Chicago and Cook County passed an ordinance for sick time that expanded the definition of family, to be an inclusive definition incorporating ‘chosen family.’ Chosen Family has been a crucial and central component of the LGBTQ+ community, and this expansion is a step towards more just laws that protect the interests and needs of LGBTQ+ individuals. learn more here
Programs and Community Conversations
Kim L. Hunt, PAT Staff and guests spoke with activists and experts taking action for queer communities in Chicago and cover topics including restroom access, housing, aging, health care access, HIV prevention, employment, and much more.