Our progress
- We have successfully extended our funding agreement with the OHTN from 12 to 18 months. This means our work to connect ACB SGL men in Ontario is funded to September 30th, 2021. A big thank you to the members of the organizing committee who worked to secure this funding
- Expanded our updates to include and showcase writing from Black queer men in our community. Check out the great contributions from Keith Cunningham and David Lewis Peart below
- Expanded our social media presence from FB and Instagram to include twitter and youtube
- Continued our BGMN profile series. We are now up to 10 profiles of Black queer men in our community, with many more to come
- Grown our social media following to 299 members on FB and 311 on Instagram so far
- Implemented stricter steps to ensure folks participating in our social channels are real and Black. You’ve reiterated how important this is and so we have redoubled our efforts to get it right. While we never be 100% certain of identities on social media, we will keep pushing to ensure the safety of these spaces
- Successfully launched our BGMN Presents series of online events. 6 events completed since May 17th with over 2,100 views and 270 reactions
- Hired 2 staff members to support our operations and regular programming across our virtual channels as well as in-person events. Say hello to Kwasi Mensah and Frantz Brent Harris
- Secured the help of 2 talented volunteers. Shout out and thank you to Neil Armstrong and George Barasa
Our Future Plans
- We are currently planning for a trial, in-person, physically distanced event as we adapt to living with the presence of covid-19 for the the immediate future
- We will also resume virtual events as the weather or covid-19 restrictions dictate
- We are expanding our organizing committee to and hoping to add members to drive activity around our specific focus areas. These are; Culture & knowledge production, Sexual health & pleasure, Substance use, and Mentoring. If you are interested in leading one of these areas, please connect with us using the methods mentioned above. These roles will require a commitment of about 3 to 5 hours per week on average.
What We Need from You
Please continue to engage with the community in whatever ways work for you. Whether by;
- volunteering,
- participating in an event,
- submitting a profile,
- engaging via our website or social media,
- or just subscribing to our email updates,
your engagement matters and helps to build a stronger community of Black queer men in Ontario. Creating space, whether virtual or physical is vital to community health and so we appreciate your continued support and engagement.
Thank you, stay safe and stay involved
by Keith Cunningham
