Oct. 16, 2024
Marie Equi Center opens its doors
‘We’re not just opening a building, we are opening possibilities.’
Community members gathered on Friday, Oct. 11, for a grand opening celebration at the new Marie Equi Center, which will serve LGBTQIA2S+ people with drop-in health and housing services.
The 13,000-square-foot day center, in Portland’s Brooklyn neighborhood, was funded by the Joint Office of Homeless Services using funding from the Supportive Housing Services measure. It will be the first day center of its kind in the region, providing culturally specific housing resources and other supports tailored to LGBTQIA2+ people experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
“We’ve created a place where people can access peer support, systems navigation, gender-affirming care referrals, harm reduction resources, recovery support and community-building opportunities,” said Katie Cox director of the Marie Equi Center. “A place where people who have felt pushed to the margins can come home.”
Advocacy in action
Advocacy by the LGBTQIA2S+ Housing Collaborative — a collection of organizations (including Marie Equi Center) that serve queer and trans community members — helped spur the creation the center, which will fill a gap in the homeless services system in Portland and Multnomah County.
Unlike many other places in the country, the Portland region is seen as a safe and affirming place for queer and trans people. While the Joint Office has worked to expand services for LGBTQIA2S+ community members experiencing homelessness, staff and advocates recognized those services hadn’t kept up with the need in the community.
Supportive Housing Services funding used for center
The Joint Office last year commissioned the collaborative to draft policy paper to outline gaps in services for LGBTQIA2S+ people and provide recommendations for improving outcomes, including which services to add..
When the Joint Office received unanticipated additional Supportive Housing Services revenue from Metro last fall, the Board of County Commissioners voted to fund, among other investments, a day center focused on the LGBTQIA2S+ community. (The same funding package also expanded existing day services at organizations across the County, and helped fund the St. Johns Drop-In Center that’s set to open later this year.)
“We met with our elected officials, shared our stories, and outlined the needs we were seeing. And a beautiful thing happened: They listened,” Cox said. “They saw the urgency and understood what we were building. And today, we are standing in what that advocacy has made possible.”
'It's time we put our money where our values are'
“We had the funding, and the Marie Equi Center had the vision. With the support of our County Board of Commissioners, we were able to bring these two together. We were proud to be able to partner with the Marie Equi center and help bring this vision to life,” said Stacy Borke, deputy chief of staff for County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
“It’s time that we put our money where our values are,” said Patricia Rojas, Metro’s housing director.
'You are welcome here, every aspect of you'
The center will aim to serve everyone who walks through its doors with affirming and welcoming services.
“Those of us who have an experience of being ‘other’ to a lot of others, that means we get to practice this art of connection. Which turns out to be the hardest thing we ever do, and the most valuable thing we ever do,” said Madeline Adams, program director for the Marie Equi Center. “You are welcome here, every aspect of you.”
“We’re creating new pathways for support and transforming what care and community can look like,” Cox said. “We’re not just opening a building, we are opening possibilities.”
