March 19, 2024 The Newspaper Serving LGBT Los Angeles

LA LGBT Center Receives $100K Grant

The Los Angeles LGBT Center has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the S. Mark Taper Foundation to support the Center’s innovative Culinary Arts program, an intergenerational training program for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness and low-income LGBTQ seniors.

The program is taught at the Center’s commercial kitchen in the Anita May Rosenstein Campus, the 300-hour program engages students from the Center’s Senior Services programs to learn basic culinary skills alongside youth ages 18–24 in addition to professional development training for jobs beyond the kitchen. Participants finish the program by completing a 100-hour internship at local restaurants, catering companies, and other food service businesses.

“When we launched our Culinary Arts program, no one could have predicted that, one year later, we would be facing all of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for the Center’s services has increased as a result of the pandemic, including a heartbreaking rise in food insecurity in our community. Our Culinary Arts program has been instrumental in helping us to rise to meet this need, both by providing meals for our seniors and youth and by helping establish our Pride Pantry food bank that now distributes food from our locations throughout Los Angeles,” said Center CEO Lorri L. Jean. “Thanks, in part, to the S. Mark Taper Foundation’s generosity, the Culinary Arts program can continue to help sustain both the youth and seniors who work as part of the program and those who rely on its meals.”

Since the onset of the global health crisis, culinary students have prepared as many as 450 meals per day to feed the Center’s senior clients experiencing food insecurity, the 100+ homeless youth who visit the Youth Center, and senior and youth residents at multiple Center locations.

Since the program’s launch in 2019, 42 students have graduated from the Culinary Arts program with 67 percent of them obtaining employment (prior to the pandemic).

According to Adrienne Wittenberg, Executive Director of the S. Mark Taper Foundation, “The S. Mark Taper Foundation is proud to be connected with the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s employment program working to advance the economic stability of LGBTQ older adults and young people struggling to exit homelessness.”

For more information about the Los Angeles LGBT Center, visit lalgbtcenter.org.

Related Posts

Film Review: Down Low

July 30, 2023

July 30, 2023

FILM REVIEWDOWN LOWRated R90 MinutesReleased March 11, 2023 By Dolores Quintana “Down Low” is funny. It’s a lean 90 minutes...

Film Review: The People’s Joker

July 23, 2023

July 23, 2023

FILM REVIEWThe People’s JokerUnrated92 MinutesReleased September 13, 2022 (Toronto Film Festival) By Dolores Quintana “The People’s Joker” is a heartfelt...

Skin Laundry Laser Focuses On Rejuvenating Skin

July 12, 2023

July 12, 2023

Facials don’t have to be invasive. That’s why Skin Laundry has taken a revolutionary approach to skincare technology, making the...

The Problem with Pride Outfits and How You Can Change It

February 20, 2023

February 20, 2023

Since pride month’s official declaration in 1999, we’re reminded every June of how far America has come following New York...

Happening Now: West Hollywood’s LGBTQ+ Arts Festival

May 23, 2022

May 23, 2022

By Susan Payne Happening now through the end of June, WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival celebrates the artistic contributions of...

California Trans Child Molester Gets 2 Years In Juvenile Facility

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

A Los Angeles County judge ordered Hannah Tubbs, a transgender California woman, to serve two years in a juvenile facility...

Homeless Initiative Meeting In West Hollywood

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

The City of West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative works to address homelessness with a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, collaborative response. It’s estimated that...

WeHo Premieres the ‘Moving Image Media Art’ Exhibition Series

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

The City of West Hollywood announces the premiere of the Moving Image Media Art (MIMA) program and the worldwide debut...

LA Street Will Potentially Be Named After Anti-LGBTQ Singer

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

A portion of Bailey Street may be renamed to the late Mexican Mariachi singer ” Vicente Fernandez Street’ – a...

WeHo Spreads Word About Free Covid Testing

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

The City of West Hollywood is reminding residents that free COVID-19 testing is available for them.  Demand for COVID-19 testing...

Green Qween New Queer-Owned Cannabis Shop Will Open Downtown

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

Green Qween, a new queer-owned and queer-driven cannabis shop, will open in downtown on April 20th.  The shops owners, Andrés...

2022 ‘WeHo Reads’ Series Celebrates the ‘Road to Joy’

February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022

The City of West Hollywood invites community members to celebrate literature and local authors with its 2022 WeHo Reads literary...

New Injectable HIV Prevention Drug Approved By FDA

January 18, 2022

January 18, 2022

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first long-acting injectable medication for use as pre-exposure prevention, or PrEP, against...

New CA Law Helps With Transgender Deadnames

January 18, 2022

January 18, 2022

A new California law requires public colleges to update diplomas and records for transgender students who have changed their names....

MJ Rodriguez, 1st Openly Transgender Actress to Win Golden Globe

January 18, 2022

January 18, 2022

Michaela Jae “MJ” Rodriguez has made history by becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Golden Globe.  The...