Working Smart at OUTMemphis

In 1989, the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center (called “the center”) was founded to provide a safe space for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community to meet, gather, and organize. By 2010, the center had over 20 years of experience connecting LGBTQ people to existing services and explaining where support just didn’t exist.

In 2017, MGLCC became OUTMemphis. The center has a team of 7 dedicated staff, serves approximately 10,000 visitors and clients per year, and has some big dreams: ending LGBTQ homelessness in Memphis, getting Memphis off the list of top 10 cities for new HIV cases, making Memphis a safe place for transgender people of all races and ages, transforming Memphis into a safe and comfortable place for LGBTQ seniors, and much more!

This project is about improving the technology at OUTMemphis to help make these dreams a reality. This includes creating hardware and software improvements to computers and mobile devices, upgrading the phone system, updating the front desk entryway with a digital display, and installing an online guest check in system. When finished, visitors to the center will be able to check in quickly and easily, read more about upcoming events in English and Spanish, reach individual staff members and leave confidential voicemail messages, enjoy faster internet on their own electronic devices, and more. Staff will be able to more easily promote upcoming events and new services via the digital front desk display, to use the guest check in system to ensure the center is serving an LGBTQ community as diverse as the city, and to connect to community members more securely with individual, confidential voicemail.

OUTMemphis has already made significant progress towards this goal. The cost of these improvements is set at $14,300. OUTMemphis has secured a $7,150 challenge grant from The Community Foundation, but we need your help to get the grant! To prepare for this upgrade, the center has already laid the groundwork for these tech improvements. The community center has been completely rewired to make staff computers faster and more secure. An architect has drawn up plans redesigning the front desk space once the phones, digital display, and visitor check in process are updated with technology that can meet the growing needs of the community. 

OUTMemphis has grown from the community center that serves as the “safe space” for LGBTQ community members into a social services organization that provides medical, social, and supportive services to LGBTQ people in that safe space. Every year the number of people doing this work and the number of people benefitting from the work grows exponentially. The upgrades will help OUTMemphis continue to meet the needs of LGBTQ community members while transforming Memphis and the Mid-South into a place where all LGBTQ people, regardless of age, race, and gender, can live and thrive.