LGBTQ Community Survey to Guide Services & Support Across Chicago

On October 17, Morten Group, in partnership with The LGBT Community Fund of The Chicago Community Trust, launched the 2018 Chicago LGBTQ Community Needs Assessment at Howard Brown Health – Clark.

“LGBTQ: What’s New?” is designed to capture the strengths, assets, needs and challenges of today’s 2018 Chicagoland LGBTQ community, primarily through an online survey form.

The first major Chicago LGBT community needs assessment was launched in 2011. Drawing responses from over 2,000 participants, that assessment identified healthcare as the number one need within the Chicago region’s LGBT community. The data was also used to inform three rounds of grant making by the LGBT Community Fund.

Kicking off the 2018 Chicago LGBTQ Community Needs Assessment at Howard Brown Health – Clark in October, were (left to right): Mary F. Morten, president of Morten Group, LLC; Kristin Keglovitz Baker, chief operating officer of Howard Brown Health; Denise C. Foy and Adnaan Hamid, co-chairs of The LGBT Community Fund; and Bob Eichinger, director of donor services at The Chicago Community Trust.

“The data was collected and it didn’t just hide in a corner. Five hundred people downloaded the report from Morten Group’s website alone, not to mention those who have accessed the report through the Trust’s website. This information was shareable and used by the community,” said Keisha Farmer-Smith, senior consulting associate with Morten Group, LLC, and methodological lead for the needs assessment.

Farmer-Smith went on to explain how Morten Group’s assessment strategy has been adopted by other organizations currently conducting community needs assessments.

On the air: Dr. Keisha Farmer-Smith and Adnaan Hamid joined WBEZ’s Worldview to discuss the Community Needs Assessment. Listen now

The survey will be open to collect data through January 2019, with a report to be released soon afterwards.

To date, there has not been a comprehensive needs assessment of the Chicago area’s LGBTQ community conducted since the Fund’s 2011 study. Moreover, there is not enough data available about LGBTQ populations nationwide—making this effort hugely significant not only to inform future grant making by The LGBT Community Fund, but for community representation in research literature more broadly.

Update: The 2019 Chicago LGBTQ Community Needs Assessment was released in May 2019. Read the summary report