The Marie Equi Center, a new day center designed to serve the LGBTQIA2S+ community, celebrated its grand opening in Portland's Brooklyn neighborhood on October 11. Funded by the Joint Office of Homeless Services using money from the Supportive Housing Services measure, the facility is the region's first to offer culturally specific housing resources along with other supports for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals facing homelessness and housing instability.
The 13,000-square-foot center plans to offer a range of services, from housing navigation and peer support to accessing healthcare, and harm reduction resources. According to a statement obtained by Multnomah County News, Katie Cox, director of the Marie Equi Center, expressed that the center is a place "where people who have felt pushed to the margins can come home."
Advocacy from the LGBTQIA2S+ Housing Collaborative was key in initiating the project. The collaborative, which includes the Marie Equi Center, has been critical in highlighting the gap in the homeless services system in Portland and Multnomah County for queer and trans individuals. As per Multnomah County News, this region is comparatively seen as a haven for queer and trans people, but services have not adequately kept pace with the needs of the community.
Last year, to outline service gaps and provide recommendations for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, the Joint Office commissioned the collaborative to draft a policy paper. After receiving additional funding from Metro, the Board of County Commissioners decided to allocate part of this support to the day center focused on the LGBTQIA2S+ community, an investment that also included the expansion of existing services across the County, and helped fund another center set to open later in St. Johns.
Stacy Borke, the deputy chief of staff for County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, mentioned, "We had the funding, and the Marie Equi Center had the vision. With the support of our County Board of Commissioners, we were able to bring these two together. We were proud to be able to partner with the Marie Equi center and help bring this vision to life," according to Multnomah County News. And, with a nod to the center's broader implications, Madeline Adams, program director for the Marie Equi Center, underscored a central ethos of the initiative: "You are welcome here, every aspect of you."
