Funding Spotlight: Rainbow Heights Club

The COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent economic downturn, and latest uprisings around racism have adversely affected the mental health of many in our community. One of our grantee partners, Rainbow Heights Club, has long provided support and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender consumers of mental health services. At the start of the pandemic, they recognized that their services would need to continue virtually and reached out to Stonewall for support.

In April, Rainbow Heights Club received a $1,500 grant from Stonewall’s Emergency Response Fund to purchase refurbished laptops so their staff could work from home. The grant allowed them to buy four laptops that have increased their staff’s capacity to provide virtual mental health services to LGBTQ people. “We’re now providing telephone support to 45-50 people per day. The laptops improve productivity tremendously as now every peer specialist has their own laptop so progress and case notes get recorded in real time. This frees up another hour of staff time that peers now spend on the phone supporting more clients,” said Kevin Garrity, Rainbow Heights Club’s Deputy Executive Director. We are proud to support their crucial work.