D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, former Mayor Anthony Williams and at least three members of the City Council joined more than 200 people who turned out on Oct. 10 for the 10th Anniversary Gala Celebration and fundraiser for the Wanda Alston Foundation.

The Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides transitional housing and support services for homeless LGBT youth, is inviting members of the LGBT community and its allies to attend its 10th anniversary celebration and fundraiser scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Cherry will present over $23,000 in checks from its Direct Grant Fund to organizations offering HIV services, including $10,000 to the Inova Juniper Program, which is the largest provider of HIV/AIDS care in Northern Virginia. $4,000 will go to the TransLatin@ Coalition, with smaller awards benefitting the Wanda Alston Foundation, Metro DC PFLAG, TransLAW, and Casa Ruby.

The first LGBT youth-focused shelter in D.C. is continuing its legacy of serving one of the most vulnerable demographics.

The Wanda Alston House and Foundation, now in its 10th year of service, serves LGBT individuals ages 16-24. The residential home-turned-shelter currently houses eight people, and hundreds have been through its doors over the last decade. The house is named after the late Wanda Alston, a D.C.-based LGBT activist who was murdered near her home in 2005.

The Wanda Alston Foundation held its 10th anniversary celebration at a gala at AJAX on Wednesday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser presented former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams with an award. The Wanda Alston Foundation supports the Wanda Alston House which provides housing and support for homeless LGBTQ youth.  (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

In addition to awarding the grants, BHT issued four annual community service awards: The Anthony J. Bachrach Award for Outstanding Service to an individual to Baltimore activist Rik Newton-Treadway; the Billy Collison Award “to an underdog and grantee” to the D.C. Latino GLBT History Project; the George Dodson Business Award to a business supportive of the LGBT community to the Baltimore Eagle; and the Founders Award to a non-profit to the D.C. Wanda Alston Foundation.

The LGBT groups receiving the grants are the Metro D.C. Center for the LGBT Community; the Wanda Alston Foundation; and Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc.

18th & U Duplex Diner (2004 18th St., N.W.) hosts its D.C. Pride kickoff party on Saturday, June 3 from 2-6 p.m. Brock Thompson, Jonathan Shields and Beaumont Brackeen will guest bartend for the night. All tips benefit the Wanda Alston Foundation.

Other D.C.-based LGBT or LGBT supportive groups receiving BHT grants included New Ways Ministry, Inc., PFLAG – Metro D.C., Rainbow History Project, SMYAL, Wanda Alston Foundation, and the Washington Renegades Rugby Football Club, Inc.

Other LGBT community organizations that receive various amounts of D.C. government funds and that could be impacted by the Trump executive order include Casa Ruby, a bilingual LGBT community services center that assists LGBT Latino immigrants among other LGBT clients; SMYAL, which provides services for LGBT youth; and the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services for homeless LGBT youth.

Dear President Trump,

Sixty nine days ago, you were elected to become our next president. Since then, I have experienced a lot of feelings, but the main one has been that of dismay. This election has changed the way I look at my neighbors, family and friends. I am suspicious of who would have voted against my very existence. I am scared and unsettled. I don’t know what to expect or what to do to ensure my safety or well-being.

According to the announcement, many employers will be available at the event to discuss job opportunities. Among them, it says, will be the Wanda Alston Foundation, SMYAL, Whitman-Walker Health, and St. John’s Community Services, a non-profit organization that provides services to people with disabilities.

The proposed rules help fulfill legislated mandates from 2014 when the council passed the Homeless LGBTQ Youth Reform Amendment Act. In line with the law, the District’s Department of Human Services (DHS) has funded beds exclusively for LGBTQ youth at two organizations: eight at the Wanda Alston Foundation and 17 at Casa Ruby. The agency funded a further 15 temporary hypothermia beds at Casa Ruby last winter. There are also a handful of privately-funded LGBTQ youth beds at the Latin American Youth Center.

The Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing-related services for homeless LGBT youth in D.C., announced on Wednesday that it has named veteran LGBT rights advocate June Crenshaw as its interim executive director.

Former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams will co-host a benefit in memory of the late Wanda Alston, who once served as his first appointee to head the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs, to raise money for LGBT homeless youth served by the foundation that bears her name.

The Wanda Alston Foundation, the D.C.-based nonprofit organization that provides housing and other services to homeless LGBT youth, received formal approval last month from the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt organization, the organization announced on Tuesday.