AKRON, Ohio — Rebecca Callahan is the executive director of the Community Aids Network Akron Pride Initiative, or CANAPI.

They have a variety of programs, including Lavender Landing, which helps provide housing stability assistance for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults.

What You Need To Know

  • The Gay Community Endowment Fund is hosting their annual celebration event on June 2
  • The fund awarded 15 grants totaling more than $70,000 to programs that advance a lived equality for LGBTQ+ people in Greater Akron
  • CANAPI received more than $10,000 dollars for their programs

“The need is so much greater than we had even thought,” Callahan said. “And as we are to help them become housing stable, or if they are homeless, gain housing, those wrap around services help them with transportation, household goods, needed things, such as bedding and food.”

CANAPI was awarded more than $10,000 this year by the Gay Community Endowment Fund of the Akron Community Foundation to help provide these essential housing needs.

“They also can help with rent and security deposits and anything that someone might need to stay in a home if they might already have one,” Callahan explained.

Stephannie Garrett with the Gay Community Endowment Fund said there are 15 grants totaling more than $71,000 for programs that enhance the quality of life of greater Akron’s LGBTQ+ community.

The event is on June 2 at 6 p.m. at the Knight Stage at the Akron Civic Theatre. Tickets can be bought here.

Proceeds support academic scholarships for LGBTQ+ students and allies in the greater Akron area.

“At the time that the fund was established, we were only the second, I believe, in the nation,” Garrett said. “The work that we do is directly related to the LGBTQ+ community. So any grant application that we receive, the program, or the end result of any funding that we award has to benefit the LGBTQ+ community.”

Callahan said organizations like the Gay Community Endowment Fund that help keep her nonprofit running.

“It really helps the LGBTQ population not only receive services, know that services are available to them. It lets people know that not only are they seen, they are valued,” Callahan said.