FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Allen County Drug and Alcohol Consortium officially opens the BRAVE Alliance center Friday evening. It’s an LGBTQ center for youth and young adults in Fort Wayne.
The BRAVE Alliance center, which stands for Building Radically Affirming and Validating Environments, is a drop-in center that offers resources like counseling, activities and mutual aid groups.
MaryClare Clark, President/CEO of the Allen County Drug and Alcohol Consortium, said through drug and alcohol prevention research, she’s found that there is a need for an affirming space for LGBTQ youth.
“One of the highest populations for substance use disorder is our young people that are in the LGBTQ community,” Clark said. “So we are targeting this community as this place that can get some more services in that area, get some mental health counseling.”
The center will have groups specific to different age ranges and will include education, support, and other types of wellness like art therapy and yoga.
It will also have a free to use Queer Library, and a Hall of Fame of well-known members of the LGBTQ community.
“We want to make sure that there’s a safe place for kids and young adults to feel like they can be who they are and be loved no matter what,” Clark said.
Clark said they will also offer services to older adults as well, that may not have received the support they needed long ago.
“There’s a large group of older adults that didn’t really have the opportunity to have a safe space when they were younger, especially you know, in Indiana, so we’re having some certain hours there specifically for 55 and older as well,” Clark said.
The goal is to offer assistance to whoever needs it. Clark said they will not turn anyone away unless they are coming with hate. She said they have no tolerance for that.
Opening hours will vary each week depending on age groups. BRAVE Alliance will post each week on their website and social media pages alerting the public of what age groups will be allowed at what time.
Poster Comment:
The US should surrender to Russia and China NOW.
#1: StraitGate To: Esso (#0)
This is felonious criminal child abuse.
I hope MaryClare Clark and all her supporters either get their hearts right with God and repent of this wickedness -- or jump off the MLK bridge when the St. Mary's River is frozen over.
StraitGate posted on 2023-04-15 00:26:53 Reply Private Reply
#2: Esso To: StraitGate (#1)
Esso posted on 2023-04-15 07:43:23 Reply Private Reply
#3: Esso To: StraitGate, 4um (#1)
It used to be called the Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge. I have an 8X10 glossy promotional still of her and William Powell from the movie "My Man Godfrey" (1936) hanging in my living room. [pic sent via SMS text]
Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother...
Lombard's career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 aboard TWA Flight 3, which crashed on Mount Potosi, Nevada, while returning from a war bond tour. Today, she is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre and American comedy, and as an icon of American cinema.
When the U.S. entered World War II at the end of 1941, Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally with her mother, Bess Peters, and Clark Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler. Lombard raised more than $2 million in defense bonds in a single evening. Her party had initially been scheduled to return to Los Angeles by train, but Lombard was eager to reach home more quickly and wanted to travel by air. Her mother and Winkler were afraid of flying and insisted that the group follow their original travel plans. Lombard suggested that they flip a coin; they agreed, and Lombard won the toss.
Lombard's funeral was January 21 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. She was interred beside her mother under the name of Carole Lombard Gable. Despite remarrying twice following her death, Gable was interred beside Lombard when he died in 1960.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Esso posted on 2023-04-15 10:01:17 Reply Private Reply