This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
OUT Boulder County is happy to announce their Boulder County LGBTQ Community Assessment Survey.
OUT Boulder encourages all members of the LGBTQ community to take the survey. It is only available to members of the LGBTQ community but all members, in all age ranges, are strongly encouraged to participate. The survey is open now until the end of September.
The survey was initially launched during Longmont PRIDE in June and now has a digital format for members of the LGBTQ community to access.
After the window for the survey closes, OUT Boulder and many other organizations will use the data collected to better serve the LGBTQ community by offering better resources and programming.
"The survey is a little intense. It gets down into the weeds of domestic violence, hate incidents, mental health, access to doctors, these are all issues that each one of us struggle with. But then when you overlay that with LGBTQ identities, there are organizations and agencies government structures that don't always see us for our whole selves. So trying to figure out exactly where we need to put our focus for advocacy is very important," states Mardi Moore, executive director (she/her/hers) for Out Boulder County.
"I think that more information we can get the better off we are all going to be because it is going to drive new conversations," says Moore.
OUT Boulder currently takes data for all of their programming. That data combined with the data from the survey will open up some new programming. Expected programs to be added will be programming for community members ages 50+ and for people of color. These programs are currently being worked on and OUT Boulder is excited to see what the data for the survey indicates is needed for their community.
Moore commented that there are members of the LGBTQ community that are "looking at what changes OUT Boulder needs to make to be inclusive in our programming and our leadership."
"OUT Boulder is not the only group that is going to use this survey. This information will be used by a lot of different organizations, organizations that serve LGBTQ folks. I think it will build new partnerships for us," says Moore
The Boulder County LGBTQ Community Assessment Survey is available in a variety of ways.
Click here for a link to the survey.
The survey is available at both OUT Boulder locations: 2132 14th Street, Boulder and 630 Main Street, Longmont.
Surveys can also be mailed to residents by calling 303-499-5777.
To learn more about OUT Boulder County visit https://www.outboulder.org/.
"It's been 18 years since we have done a survey. Funding for a project like this is hard to come by. So I urge people to take the time, it is not a long survey, but to take it because I don't know when we will have the opportunity to get another survey out into the community again," states Moore.
