Campus Pride announces awarding of second round of ten social justice mini grants

As part of 20 year anniversary, organization funds total of 20 mini grants in 2021 to develop LGBTQ+ student leaders with project support

CHARLOTTE, NC — Campus Pride, the preeminent resource for LGBTQ leadership development, diversity inclusion and advocacy within higher education, today announced the awarding of ten new Social Justice Mini Grants for Activism. Campus Pride launched its social justice mini grant program in June 2021 as part of the organization’s 20th anniversary celebrations with an inaugural ten awards. Twenty awards have been granted in total for the 20 year anniversary. Each grant is worth up to $600.

Grantees represent schools from across the country, working on projects ranging from providing binders to transgender students, cultivating a photojournalism series, developing educational and safe space trainings on campuses, and supporting LGBTQ students on one of the most discriminatory campuses in the country. View the full list of mini-grant awardees and project descriptions online at www.CampusPride.org/SocialJusticeMiniGrantFunding.

This inaugural class of awards includes the following schools and project themes:

• George Washington University, Washington D.C. – To grow the HBCU Commission on the East coast.
• Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania – Creating safe spaces to obliterate systemic challenges and barriers through writing, digital content creation, and programming.
• Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania – Helping students pay for gender affirming surgeries.
• University of Connecticut, Connecticut – To research topics including the effects of disability on transgender people’s sexuality, the intersection of race and disability, and explorations into disparities marginalized people face.
• University of Connecticut, Connecticut – To research housing insecurity within the LGBTQ community in partnership with the University of Connecticut’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department, and the publication of a zine centered on these issues.
• University of Minnesota Morris, Minnesota – To cultivate a social media series exploring gender non-conforming fashion for plus-sized people. 
• Virginia State University, Virginia – To develop “Leisure and Lessons” programming, creating social spaces for LGBTQ young people to connect and explore issues around mental and physical health.
• University of Wisconsin Whitewater, Wisconsin – To develop a PhotoVoice photography project to explore queerness in rural areas, telling the stories of rural LGBTQ individuals visually.
• Brigham Young University, Utah – To support BYU Pride’s efforts to advocate for real change on one of the most intolerant campuses for LGBTQ students in the country.
• University of Central Florida, Florida – To distribute binders to transgender students – an essential tool for transmasculine and gender non-conformiing individuals.

Campus Pride will continue awarding Social Justice Mini Grants for Activism in 2022. Student activists are encouraged to apply online at www.campuspride.org/actnow.