A Space to Belong: Mission & Ministry Grant Supports Community Center for Trans & Gender-Diverse Community

Each year, the National Benevolent Association invites congregations and ministries to apply for a Mission & Ministry Grant. These grants are reserved specifically for projects that will impact older adults as well as historically excluded youth and young adults. Below is a story from a grantee who received funds for their work in 2022 and has been running their program continually since.

In 2022, Galileo Christian Church in Fort Worth, Texas founded Finn’s Place, a community center created to unite the wider Fort Worth and Tarrant County community as one that fosters trans and gender-diverse joy. Finn’s Place is a community center where trans and gender-diverse people gather, grow, and flourish. The center provides support, connections, and resources for the trans community and their loved ones.

To help with the funding necessary to begin a center like this, Galileo Christian Church applied for an NBA Mission & Ministry Grant to support their endeavors. Through that grant, and the generous donations of time, talent, and funding they’ve received from the Texas community, they’ve been able to support the LGBTQ+ in several expected and unexpected ways.

1. Finn’s Place has served more than 30 distinct teens and young adults, adding programming for their loved ones, including families of origin.
2. They’ve partnered with 13 non-profit organizations, service providers, queer-owned businesses, and healthcare providers in the community.
3. Initiated Gender-Affirming Parents (GAP), a mutual support group that met twice monthly during the fall of 2022 and again for a winter 2023 session. Additionally, Finn’s Place hosted weekly coffee-and-conversation gatherings, youth suicide-prevention training (QPR), Trans-Cendence International support groups, provided Black Trans History education, and self-defense classes open to gender-diverse folx and their families.
4. Engaged a plethora of providers, including gender-affirming haircuts by Acute Salon, yoga mindfulness and meditation, plant swaps with Bleu Phoenix for Lotus Gardens, Proud Family portraits, and worked with Queer Wave Coffee to supply their coffee bar.

Recently, the staff at Finn’s Place/Galileo Christian Church shared a video of the impact their new community hub has had on participants and volunteers alike. Watch the video below!

Are you interested in receiving grant funds for your health and social service project? Consider applying for a Mission & Ministry Grant here.