We Breathe: Fund LGBTQ+ Organizations

We Breathe: Fund LGBTQ+ Organizations 

Since the Trump Administration released its horrific executive order calling for an end to LGBTQ+ research and contracts, many LGBTQ+-serving organizations have lost crucial funds to serve and support our most vulnerable communities. More than half of federal contacts that mention the words LGBTQ+ and transgender have been terminated since January 2025. 

CTPP-funded projects, majority of LLAs, regional projects, coordinating centers and more have a chance to fight back against this purge of LGBTQ+ federal funding by supporting LGBTQ+ tobacco prevention in California through your subgrantee programs. We Breathe, the LGBTQ+ Coordinating Center, has successfully funded ten organizations and individuals to engage the LGBTQ+ Community in tobacco prevention work since 2023 through our Community Engagement Agreements (CEA). 

These organizations and individuals have included Gender Alchemy in Fresno, and Dr. Carl Highshaw. Many of our current and former subgrantees have experience not only in LGBTQ+ advocacy, but also advocating for rural, Native/Tribal, Black/African American, Latino/a/e, and many more communities. LGBTQ+ People Exist in ALL Communities. Whether you are a project that works in Los Angeles, Fresno, Bakersfield, Sacramento or any other region in California, LGBTQ+ people live in your jurisdiction. We Breathe can support your efforts to identify LGBTQ+ organizations in your region to apply to your CEA program. Riverside County alone shows three LGBTQ+ serving organizations, none of which are CTPP-funded. 

Our 2023 Needs Assessment Survey showed that CTPP-funded projects identified getting LGBTQ+ organizations to collaborate on tobacco prevention campaigns remains a major barrier. The CEA program, that a majority of CTPP-funded projects have in their scope of work, presents an opportunity to not only collaborate with LGBTQ+ organizations but also fund them. With the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation coming from local, state and federal governments, LGBTQ+ tobacco prevention efforts and research are on the brink due to the efforts of bigots like Donald Trump. 

This means that our efforts to engage LGBTQ+ organizations, many of which have lost vital federal funding, must be a priority as they search for alternative sources. It means that those of us with the resources to fund LGBTQ+ organizations have a responsibility to engage these projects and encourage them to apply for your subgrants. Don’t let the efforts to erase LGBTQ+ organizations succeed.

Fund LGBTQ+ organizations.