cfa lgbt housing guide updated-4 (1) - Flipbook - Page 73
HOUSING GUIDE
CFA LGBT: A Brief History
CFA LGBT: A Brief History
HOUSING GUIDE
Transitional/Senior Living communities that
are respectful and culturally competent
of LGBT individuals was identified
overwhelmingly as the most pressing need
for aging LGBT community (91.5%).
60% of single people living alone said that
they did not have or were unsure if they
would have a reliable social network to
assist if they became ill or had an accident.
48% of respondents 65 or older are single,
living alone.
COALITION FOR AGING LGBT
A Brief History
In 2015 we began to build what is known today as the Coalition
for Aging LGBT (CFA LGBT), after the organization founder,
Cannon Flowers began researching the population numbers and
needs of the aging LGBT Community in the four-county area
of the Dallas-Ft. Worth (Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, and Collin) in
the years of 2013 through 2015. With the help of the Williams
Institute at UCLA, we learned that the population of this fourcounty area of lesbian and gay residents age 45 and older is
at 195,000 and will continue to rise in the next ten years to
200,000. Then a survey was launched to assess the needs of
the community. The top two concerns of the respondents were
housing and social engagement.
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The initial focus of CFA LGBT was to create
programming where we could work with
existing service providers in the DFW area to
assess their LGBT-Competency and make
that information available to the public, with
the initial area of housing – and also, the
important focus of social engagement and
addressing isolation. This isolation occurs
to those aging in place (at home) and those
who are living in senior communities and
have gone back into the closet because they
are unsure if they are in an open and LGBTwelcoming environment.
The organization officially formed and held
its inaugural Board meeting on Saturday,
July 25, 2015, with 12 Directors seated. The
organization has added two other services
areas of “Advocacy & Education” and
“Healthcare”.
You can learn more about the Coalition for
Aging LGBT at www.cfa.lgbt
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