Northwest Youth Services is excited to announce the launch of the first and only LGBTQ+ center between Seattle, WA and Vancouver, Canada. The Q Center, created by Northwest Youth Services in partnership with Bellingham Queer Collective, is Whatcom County’s inaugural Queer Community Center.
The Q Center will serve as a gathering space for Whatcom’s queer community members of all ages to connect and access resources. One side of the center will house Queer Youth Services (QYS), providing LGBTQIA2S+ young individuals ages 13-25 with the resources and support necessary for living healthy, fulfilling lives as their authentic selves. QYS offers gender-affirming care through resource navigation, the trans fashion treasury, regular queer youth meetups, advocacy, training, and connections to a network of agencies and service providers that uphold and support the self-identified goals and needs of queer youth.
The other entrance of the Q center will house the Bellingham Queer Collective and other non-profits in the community that are focused on supporting LGBTQIA2S+ folks. The new BQC Community Center will provide a critical inclusive third space, outside of home and work, for our 18+ intergenerational LGBTQ+ community members to gather Downtown. The Bellingham Queer Collective Center will be used for affinity group meetups, workshops and classes, game and movie nights, a curated lending library, a quiet reading/workspace, organizational meetings, resource navigation; housing, food, jobs, gender-affirming care and supplies, and clothing.
