Giving Compass' Take:

· The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan takes a look at how the HOPE Fund grantee has progressed LGBTQ+ inclusion under the law.

· How can philanthropy help advance LGBTQ+ rights and legislation? 

· Check out this about defending LGBTQI human rights.

Pepper Hamilton attorney Tom Wilczak has been with The HOPE Fundalmost since its inception. An active member of Detroit’s LGBTQ+ community, Tom had also served on the board and as the chair of Affirmations, an LGBTQ+ community center and HOPE Fund grantee. He was also actively involved with Unified, formerly AIDS Partnership Michigan.

Tom appreciated the implications of the creation of an initiative like the HOPE Fund: that the foundation world wanted to expand its knowledge base and help serve the unmet needs of LGBTQ+ community members.

“Having [the HOPE Fund] well-established in the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan allowed other organizations to more freely participate in that discussion and realize that, yes, now we can talk about these needs,” he said. “It became much more receptive; it was easier for organizations to address those issues.”

Growing up in Detroit, Tom was raised to participate in and give back to his community. “It has always been second nature to me,” he said. That’s evident from his history of pro bono legal work. Currently, his team is involved in a number of immigration issues in Detroit, and has worked for many years on Project Innocence and prison reform initiatives, including LGBTQ+ projects, throughout the country.

Read the full article about LGBTQ+ inclusion under the law by The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan at Medium.