About This Website
The LGBTQ Poverty Collaborative was created in an effort to increase knowledge and facilitate connections around the issue of LGBTQ poverty. The collaborative and report was developed and produced by The Vaid Group.
A growing body of research on poverty, food insecurity, and other indicators of economic insecurity has made visible the truths that many LGBTQ people are poor and lack food security, that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGI) makes LGBTQ people vulnerable economically, and that downswings of the economy also affect LGBTQ people significantly. These data on LGBTQ poverty generally, and on vulnerable subgroups in particular, indicate that a complex interaction of LGBTQ, race, and gender- related issues are relevant to our understanding of the pathways into and out of poverty.
To date, there is very little public discourse on LGBTQ people as a group that experiences poverty, and there is a dearth of research on the experiences of this population. In addition, the LGBTQ movement has no formal engagement with issues of poverty, economic inequality or economic opportunity. This project addresses both the gap in research and activism through consultation, policy analysis and organizing in order to develop a policy agenda that can address poverty in LGBTQ communities at the national and state level.
