OUTniagara looks for renewed energy
OUTniagara members are hoping new leadership will bring renewed life to the organization.
A 10-member board was elected recently to represent OUTniagara, which is the umbrella group for Niagara’s LGBTQ+ community.
New board chair Brian Scriver called it “a very strong team” comprising members of the sexualand gender-diverse community and its allies.
“OUTniagara is already in the planning stages for several events that we hope will appeal to a broad cross-section of our members,” he said.
It was founded in 2006 and Scriver said it was the “go-to organization” as a representative of the gay and transgender community for the next 10 years or so.
About three years ago, though, it lost momentum while other groups like Pride Niagara stepped up to take on more of a leadership role.
But interest started building again to revitalize OUTniagara, leading to the recent election of a permanent board.
In addition to Scriver, it includes vice-chair Celeste Turner, secretary Kate Alexander, treasurer Marissa Daniels and directors Kim Ansell, Sarah BurtchWalsh, Lorenzo Cromwell, Melissa Gray, Michael Sherman and Joan Wiley.
On its website OUTniagara lists more than a dozen community groups it works with including Brock Pride, Quest Community Health, Positive Living Niagara, Niagara Region Gay Men’s Group and Niagara Region LGBTQ+ Women’s Group.
Scriver, who grew up in St. Catharines but lives in Welland, was a founding member. He said OUTniagara can bring the community groups together so they don’t work “in silos.”
It won’t take over those groups’ projects or events, though. For instance, Pride Niagara will continue to organize Pride in the Park in June.
It’s restarting small — OUTniagara has 27 members now, but he hopes within a year it could reach 250. He said “a pillar” of the organization is its community fund, to which partner organizations can apply for grants to help cover the cost of regular meetings or events.