Queer Kentucky will soon embark on a statewide tour to offer LGBTQ+ inclusivity workshops across Kentucky.
The nonprofit organization is best known for its digital media platform that shares the stories of the LGBTQ+ community, but it launched trans inclusivity training for workplaces in 2019 after recognizing a gap in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. That training has since expanded to include the full scope of LGBTQ+ education, and it will be accessible in free, public workshops across five cities this year, thanks to funding from local businesses and organizations.
Spencer Jenkins, founder and executive director of Queer Kentucky, told me while much of the organization's presence has been concentrated in the areas of Louisville and Lexington, the new statewide initiative is something it has been looking to do since the beginning.
"We've just never had the bandwidth or capacity to expand out to other regions of the state," he said.
Now, it is able to do so with $20,000 in funding from Kentucky for Kentucky, JP Davis Partners, Louisville Vegan Jerky Co., Story Louisville, the Fairness Campaign, Louisville Pride Foundation, Open Doors Counseling Center, Topper Pride and 502 Hemp.
The series of workshops, which will kick off on March 15 at Kentucky for Kentucky's headquarters in Lexington, will be led by Noa August and Adrian Sibernagel, who identify as nonbinary and transgender, respectively. Each two-hour workshop will cover definitions and terms, and offer participants tools and best practices for making spaces inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community.
"We've taken the workshops to a more impactful level by hiring people with those actual lived experiences, rather than just another consultant that has learned or heard about those experiences," Jenkins said.
The remaining public workshops will be held in Bowling Green in April, Hazard on June 25, Covington in August and Louisville in September. When available, specific dates, locations and times will be available at Queer Kentucky's website and social media channels.
Meanwhile, Queer Kentucky is still offering its DEI consulting services to businesses.
It has recently partnered with OrgVitals, a Louisville-based data company, to launch a pilot program that will offer companies advanced analytics and data visualizations through workplace surveys that will ultimately detail opportunities for practice and intervention. The Future of Work Initiative is supporting that effort, Jenkins said.
"That baseline data, collected via anonymous surveys, will be so important to determine where a company is at with queer inclusion," he said. "People love seeing data and knowing that they are doing better and that our consulting is actually having an impact."
