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The Rainbow Health Initiative

Health & Wellness for Minnesota’s LGBTQ Communities

Who We Are. What We Do.

Founded in 2000, The Rainbow Health Initiative is a non-profit corporation comprised of community activists, physicians, health advocates and citizens. The mission of Rainbow Health is Advancing the health and wellness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities through research, education and advocacy.

Over the past five years, Rainbow Health has established itself as an authoritative source of health information on and for the LGBT community. Since our inception, Rainbow Health has:

· Conducted the only large-scale surveys on the health concerns and needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender and queer people living in Minnesota.

· Established itself as a primary source of information for and liaison to health agencies and community coalitions including the Minnesota Department of Health, Tobacco-Free Lavender Communities of Minnesota and The Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco.

· Developed a pool of potential volunteers including health providers, mental health providers, health advocates, and community organizers to specialists in communications and social marketing.

Why We Do It.

While Minnesota has been named the healthiest state in the union for 14 of the past 15 years, the GLBT community experiences significant health disparities when compared to the state’s general population. Most alarmingly:

· Approximately 30 percent of the GLBT community lacks health care insurance, compared to eight percent of the general population.

· Less than 50 percent of all GLBT persons are out to their health care provider.

· Thirty percent of GLBT youth attempt suicide.

· Violence against the GLBT community has risen sharply in the wake of anti-same sex marriage ballot initiatives.

· HIV/AIDS, STD’s, mental health issues, substance abuse, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity/weight issues are all significant health care concerns disproportionately reflected in the Minnesota GLBT community.

Rainbow Health is dedicated to eliminating these disparities and encouraging improvements in the health system that make it more open and responsive to the GLBT community.

What’s Next?

A number of states (such as New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, California and Texas) with significant GLBT populations have developed dedicated health centers in their major urban areas. The leadership of Rainbow Health has determined that, at this time, a more appropriate strategy for Minnesota would be to take an incremental and cost-effective approach that focuses on improving access to existing health care resources.

With this early strategy in mind, over the next three years, Rainbow Health will dedicate itself to developing its capacity to serve as a clearinghouse of information for and on the GLBT community of Minnesota and to develop supports and resources that significantly improve access to quality health care. Specifically, our goals are to:

· Develop a health information helpline that will provide information on health resources for GLBT persons within the health care system.

· Produce a GLBT-Friendly Health Provider Directory. The Directory will identify health providers in major health specialties and subspecialties who are committed to working with GLBT persons.

· Publish and disseminate Minnesota-specific fact sheets on current research and trends on a variety of health care issues affecting the GLBT community including access to health insurance and health providers.

· Publish an annual health report on quantitative and qualitative changes in health outcomes and concerns of the GLBT Community.

· Provide technical assistance to health advocates and community members for strategies on GLBT health advocacy.

In order to achieve this plan, Rainbow Health anticipates that it will need to secure significant gifts in-kind and invest, at minimum, $50,000 over calendar year 2006 and at least $250,000 over a three-year period of time. Funds will be used to train and coordinate volunteers, build a functioning hotline, publish and distribute information sheets as well as to provide a necessary and reasonable level of administrative oversight.

What Can You Do To Help?

Volunteer time and invest in Rainbow Health.

Rainbow Health continues to seek volunteers for every aspect of its operations, including, health care professionals, advocates, community organizers, marketing, communications and development professionals, and others.

But volunteer resources are only part of the story. While we anticipate some modest income from publications, our ongoing operations will need to be almost wholly underwritten by government and philanthropic sources. While we will look to state agencies, foundation, corporate and business givers for support, it is absolutely essential that we first secure a generous investment from visionary leaders in the GLBT community who believe, as we do, that we have a responsibility to take care of our own and to take care of each other.