Grants to help lesbian and bi women’s health

Grants to the value of $6,000 will be made available this year for projects that may shine a light on, or perhaps, improve the health and wellbeing of lesbians and bisexual women living in Australia.

The inaugural joint funding round announced by the Australian Lesbian Medical Association (ALMA) and the Gay and Lesbian Foundation of Australia (GALFA) hopes to assist small projects in education or research which can be completed within one year and are nationally applicable.

Ruth McNair, ALMA grants coordinator and also a GALFA Director, told SX the grants could be potentially used to help a number of worthy projects.

“Feasible projects would be perhaps the development of a resource or education materials that would benefit lesbian/bi women’s health, training  for health providers that is nationally accessible, or research aimed at  understanding why a certain health disparity exists,” she said.

Previous grants from GALFA have been made to the national chapter of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Gays and Lesbians) in 2010; to the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard servicing Victoria and Tasmania in 2011; the NSW Central Coast’s GenQ Young Regional Youth Support Service in 2011 to help with a women’s project as well as funds last year to assist with a new website for La Trobe University based Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria’s (GLHV) seniors hub, Val’s Café. 

Leanne Renfree, from the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, said the organisation was delighted to have received a $2,500 grant from GALFA and had used it towards updating its national website and to design and print a national information card that lists the counselling phone numbers of each service.

“These cards will be distributed at large GLBTIQ festivals and events, such as Mardi Gras and Midsumma Festival and possibly at mainstream events, such as The Big Day Out, to improve access to GLBTI counselling, information and referral services to a wide range of Australians,” Renfree said.

Interested applicants are asked to submit an expression of interest using the appropriate form by Friday, March 8. Those short listed will then asked to submit a full application using the appropriate form by Friday, April 5.

Details and forms are available at www.almas.org.au and www.galfa.org.au