Wanda Alston Foundation launches culinary program for LGBTQ youth
The Wanda Alston Foundation announced it has launched a campaign to raise $15,000 for a new culinary program to equip our LGBTQ+ youth with cooking skills and kitchen gadgets.
Slay & Sauté for at risk LGBTQ+ youths
WUSA9’s Marcella Robertson interviews Cesar Toledo, Wanda Alston Foundation Executive Director, to learn more about the organization's Slay & Sauté campaign.
Campaign for LGBTQ+ youth culinary program in DC launches
The Wanda Alston Foundation, which helps young homeless and at-risk members of the LGBTQ+ community, said it is looking to provide some of those young people with cooking skills and “a taste for joy” through its “Slay & Sauté” campaign.
June Crenshaw Steps Down from WAF
“When I first joined the foundation, I was facing the real possibility of closing our shelters,” Crenshaw said in a statement. “But thanks to the unwavering support of the LGBTQ+ community and strong, steady leadership of our Board, nearly a decade later, we’ve not only kept our doors open — we’ve expanded our impact. As I pass the torch, I’m filled with pride in the organization’s next chapter.”
Wanda Alston Foundation Names New Executive Director
The Wanda Alston Foundation, the D.C.-based organization that has provided housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth since its founding in 2008, announced it has appointed longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Cesar Toledo as its new executive director.
New DC LGBTQ Center to Celebrate Grand Opening
The new DC LGBTQ Center will also house office space for nine local LGBTQ organizations. Groups like SMYAL, which supports and uplifts LGBTQ youth, and the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides transitional housing and support services for homeless or at-risk LGBTQ youth, are central to the center’s mission: to educate, empower, uplift, celebrate, elevate and connect Washington’s LGBTQ community. The center will also become the new home of the Capital Pride Alliance, the organization behind Capital Pride and this year’s WorldPride celebration.
Bowser calls for ‘extraordinary’ response to reduction in D.C. budget
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on April 15 issued an executive order calling for “extraordinary actions,” including “significant cuts in District Government services,” to address a decision by Congress to cut the city’s current budget by $1.1 billion.
Also receiving city funding are the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services for LGBTQ people; and the LGBTQ youth advocacy and services organization SMYAL.
House vote to cut $1 billion from D.C. budget threatens LGBTQ services
Among the D.C. organizations providing services to the LGBTQ community that could lose funding if the D.C. budget cut is approved by the Senate are the Wanda Alston Foundation and SMYAL, which provide housing and other services for LGBTQ youth.
DC LGBTQ youth groups face funding ‘crisis’ from Trump anti-trans policies
The D.C. based LGBTQ youth advocacy and support groups SMYAL and the Wanda Alston Foundation, which among other things provide housing for homeless LGBTQ youth, have stated in recent messages to supporters that they face a potential funding “crisis” from Trump administration policies.
In fundraising messages sent to supporters by email, the two groups say Trump’s executive orders threatening to cut off all federal funding for organizations that provide services to transgender people, especially trans youth, could prevent them from providing what they call life-saving services to trans youth as well as all LGBTQ youth in D.C
Two D.C. LGBTQ rights advocates stepping down from jobs
Longtime D.C. LGBTQ rights advocate June Crenshaw announced she is stepping down from her position for the past nine years as executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, the local organization that provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth.
In D.C., 28% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+
SMYAL began its housing program for LGBTQ youth in 2017. It was preceded by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation, which opened the city’s first transitional housing program solely dedicated to LGBTQ youth facing homelessness between the ages of 18 and 24 in 2008. As of 2022, the Alston Foundation had opened two more LGBTQ youth homeless facilities.
12% of D.C. homeless adults identify as LGBTQ+
This year’s report also says that for LGBTQ+ youth in the District, there are at least 53 transitional housing units and a rehousing program that serves 20 individuals at a time. Although the report doesn’t identify the LGBTQ youth housing facilities by name, they most likely are operated by the local LGBTQ youth services organization SMYAL and the Wanda Alston Foundation, which also provides housing services for LGBTQ homeless youth.
Nearly 100 attend vigil for slain trans woman A’Nee Roberson
Also expressing support at the vigil for improved efforts to address violence targeting the trans community was June Crenshaw, executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services for homeless LGBTQ youth.
Officials hold groundbreaking for new D.C. LGBT community center
Among the other LGBTQ organizations that have so far signed on to lease space in the new center include Rainbow Families, the Wanda Alston Foundation, Team DC, SMYAL, the Equality Chamber of Commerce, Mary’s House for older LGBTQ adults, and the LGBTQ supportive consulting firm GIII Associates.
DC Front Runners Pride 5K returns with focus on philanthropy
Beneficiaries of this year’s race include SMYAL, the Wanda Alston Foundation, Team DC, Teens Run DC, the Blade Foundation, Pride 365, and Ainsley’s Angels of America. Sponsors include Capital One Café, Choice Hotels, Knead Hospitality & Design, Wegmans, and Shake Shack.
Chad Michaels performs at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington annual gala
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington held its annual Spring Affair, this year titled “Spring A-Cher,” at the Ritz-Carlton on Saturday, May 13. “RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars” winner Chad Michaels performed. Awardees included the Wanda Alston Foundation, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Chorus members Timothy Allmond and Robert Klein.
DC LGBTQ Budget Coalition urges city to boost funding for queer programs
Among the LGBTQ and LGBTQ supportive organizations that are members of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition are Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, Capital Stonewall Democrats, the Wanda Alston Foundation, the LGBTQ youth advocacy group SMYAL, the sex worker advocacy group HIPS, the Washington AIDS Partnership, Us Helping Us, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), the ANC Rainbow Caucus, Damien Ministries, and the Latin American Youth Center.
Number of D.C. shelters serving LGBTQ homeless is growing
The Wanda Alston Foundation states on its website that it made history in 2008 when it opened D.C.’s first transitional housing program solely dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth ages 18 to 24 experiencing homelessness.
As part of that program, the foundation, named after the late and beloved LGBTQ rights advocate Wanda Alston, has since opened two more LGBTQ youth homeless facilities, including one that opened last year that also made history.
10 LGBTQ events this week
The Stonewall Kickball team Pitch Please hosts a Studio 54 dance party/fundraiser at The Dirty Goose Saturday night complete with dancing and drag performances. Proceeds are slated to help support the work of the Wanda Alston Foundation.