Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Youth and Families First Kourtney Stafford was recently elected as one of the co-chairs of the Maricopa County LGBT Consortium.
“As chair I want to be an ally for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) community and I want to provide quality services for youth, parents of youth or LGBTQ parents,” said Stafford who become the co-chair in June 2011. “I want to better understand the needs of the community and be a resource.”
Stafford will serve for two years in co-chair position for the Maricopa County LGBT Consortium for which she has been a member since the group was founded in May 2009.
According their website (www.lgbtconsortium.com), the Consortium is comprised of individual community members, businesses, corporations, and non-profit organizations, key stakeholders, politicians, social service agencies, and advocacy groups.
Stafford and the members of the Consortium work to accomplish the joint mission and strategic plan of the group to affect positive change in the LGBTQ community.
Stafford sees a variety of goals that she is looking forward to sheparding during her two-year term as co-chair. “Overall the purpose of the Consortium is to strengthening the LGBTQ dialogue. In the near future, we will develop training sessions on how to be welcoming to the LGBTQ community when offering non-profit, governmental agency and business services.”
The Consortium has several work groups that are carrying out the strategic plan for the organization. An example of these work groups is the Care Worker Group. “The intent is to outreach to a multi-system of governmental services such as the Arizona Department of Economic Security, Arizona Department of Health and the Arizona Department of Corrections so that they can provide quality services specifically to LGBTQ youth,” said Stafford. “We talk to one another about issues and stay current on what the needs and challenges are in the community right now. As a result, we have all become a resource for one another and the LGBTQ community.”
All the services that Youth and Families First provides can be found on their newly re-launched website: http://yffaz.org or visit us on Facebook to find out about upcoming Youth and Families First events. Let us know how we can help you and your family today.