This week read about Philadelphia creating an LGBT crime tracker, and the Grand Rapids Pride Center selecting a new leader in Michigan.
Grand Rapids Pride Center Names New Leader
Grand Rapids Pride Center has found its newest executive director in Jazz McKinney, after they served as Interim Director and chair of the organization’s Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Committee.
GRPC wrote in an announcement via Facebook, “They bring a unique perspective on how complex West Michigan can be for a BIPOC person to navigate. A natural connector, Jazz is well-known in the GRPC, GVSU and greater Grand Rapids community as an advocate for all, personally identifying most with the Black, Indigenous, trans and disabled community members we serve.”
The Grand Rapids Pride Center oversees the town’s annual pride celebration, and recently collaborated with Grand Rapids Fire and Police Departments on in-person training on LGBT-inclusive safety practices.
Mckinney told MiBiz, “My vision is to truly fulfill our mission, which is to serve all of our LGBTQ community, not just white people. My vision is to make the Pride Center more accessible to people of color and people with disabilities, and making it more accessible even with the internal things.”
Philadelphia Establishes LGBT Crime Tracker
Deja Lynn Alvarez. Photo via Facebook.
LGBT victims of crime are now being connected with aid and resources within 48 hours after an incident, thanks to a unique tracking system developed by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
If just one of 50 keywords or phrases associated with the local LGBT community is found within any police report on file, it will be added to an additional spreadsheet, where the DAO staff will be able to verify if the case involves LGBT individuals, and reach out to those people to provide support and services.
Deja Lynn Alvarez, a member of the DAO’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee, told Philidelphia Gay News, “The fact that the District Attorney’s Office is taking the initiative to start tracking the [crime] data is huge because it’s going to allow the studies necessary that we can then utilize when we are trying to create legislation or policy, whether it be in the city, the state or federally.”
