The TFA Board will be meeting this month and one of the things the Board will  discuss is the short-term and long-term future for a transgender center in  Houston.

Before going further with this post, I want to address a criticism of the  very idea of a TG Center in Houston. The criticism goes something like this,  “Why spend all that money on a center when it could go to help pay for hormones,
rent and utility assistance programs? A TG Center is a waste of money.”

Here’s my response:

Programs that help people with rent, medical, legal, life expenses are
incredibly expensive – way more expensive than a center. In order to fund
the programs the TG community needs, we need access to very deep pockets –
the kind of million dollar funding that comes from government grants. For
instance, the TG Housing program costs around 1 million a year for 52
households. Getting that kind of funding without a public face is difficult.
When we got that money through HACS, HACS had a “TG Center” at the old HACS
Center. For those of you who don’t remember, here’s a video
of the HACS “TG Center” from 2007.

Here’s a picture of the grand opening ribbon cutting press event for the
HACS “TG Center:

In short: Having a TG Center + TG services = access to more TG funding
for more TG Services. Having a TG Center speaks to one’s ability to deliver
services in a culturally competent manner, provides a professional face to
TG service needs and proves that an organization has easy access to the TG
Community – a community that is notoriously difficult to document, service
and impact (in the context of service provider circles).

Within the last few months, TFA has raised close to $100,000 in grants
for TG services and this was largely contingent upon to our status as having
had a TG Center. In other words, without a center, it becomes next to
impossible to access the type of funding the community needs.

To make it even more clear:

Before TG Centers in Houston, TG community funding = ~ $50,000
After TG Centers in Houston, TG community funding = > $3,000,000

Houston has lead the country in pulling down TG Community funding over
the past 3 years.

So, knowing that this is the reality of the way things work, what I want to know is…

• How do you feel about not having a TG Center?
• How do you feel about not having our own TG Center, but instead  moving TFA activities into the GLBT Center?
• How do you feel about renting another house for a TG Center?

I’ll be posting this on transhouston, facebook and to the lists so that  written community opinions can become part of the community record in the  decision making process concerning the future of a TG Center in Houston.

Thanks for your response!

Cristan