A NEW POSSIBILITY

Lives change for the better when our community unites to help LGBTQ+  people in need. This is the spirit in which the Tagg Scholarship Fund is  joining the Wanda Alston Foundation this fall. The move opens an  exciting new chapter of potential growth for both organizations, which  support LGBTQ+ youth.

For Tagg Magazine Editor-in-Chief Eboné F. Bell,  the partnership is an opportunity for the fund, which has awarded more  than $10,000 to queer women of color, to reach its full potential. Even  before she founded Tagg, Bell dreamed of creating a scholarship to help queer women of color attend college.

“I really wanted to make a difference, especially with young, queer  folks who look like me—because I know exactly how it is to be a queer  woman of color,” Bell says, noting that she wanted to be part of a  solution to give Black and brown queer women the resources they need to  start—and finish—college.

Bell launched the fund in summer 2016, with a goal of one day being  able to award multiple $10,000 scholarships each year and pair  recipients with mentors. By 2019, the fund had awarded two smaller  scholarships and was incorporated as a nonprofit.

But even with enthusiastic support from board members and the Tagg community, Bell recognized the fund needed more resources to fulfill  her vision. After considering many options, Bell decided the Wanda  Alston Foundation was a natural fit. Named after a queer Black woman,  the foundation provides shelter and social services to LGBTQ+ youth ages  18 to 24 experiencing homelessness and poverty and Washington, D.C.

Bell approached Wanda Alston Foundation Executive Director June Crenshaw to see if the foundation would like to manage the scholarship.

“My initial reaction was, ‘This is a perfect landing place for the  scholarship,’” Crenshaw says. “One of the things that is most  challenging in providing support to our youth experiencing homelessness  is having supports—like educational and career support—that create a  sustainable path for them. Providing more resources and being able to  support a youth with their educational aspirations is really quite  exciting.”

Crenshaw hopes to build on the scholarship’s success by expanding it  to youth pursuing non-traditional education. She’s also working to  create a youth advisory board to ensure that the foundation’s programs,  including the scholarship, are accessible, inclusive, and meeting the  needs of the youth they serve. Tagg to will work with the  foundation to promote the scholarship and amplify conversations about  the resources queer women of color need to pursue higher education.

(Published in Tagg Magazine)