Pink Menno is excited to continue the momentum around lgbtq inclusion in the Mennonite Church, in between bi-annual conventions. In the coming year, we are focusing on building organizing capacity on our Mennonite college campuses. One powerful, effective way we can do this right now is to rally financial support from the Pink Menno network for the Bluffton University Safe Spaces.
This fall, student leaders want to attend Love Across the Spectrum, from Nov. 8th and 9th. $475 will get 10 student leaders to this conference. Bluffton Safe Spaces does not have equal access to funding. Because Safe Spaces is a campus initiative that reports directly to President Jim Harder, a move President Harder made three years ago in order to allow the group to continue to function at Bluffton after having been denied in its application for student organization status, the annual budget for the group is set at $750.00. However, Safe Spaces programming has exceeded that budget cap for every year of its existence, and has had to draw on additional sources of financial support to carry off its programming. Among those past sources, the Women’s Studies Committee at Bluffton, the BMC for LGBTQ Concerns, and private donations from faculty, staff, and alumni have been instrumental in supporting Safe Spaces programming. This year, Bluffton Safe Spaces has reached out to Pink Menno for help.
We see this as an opportunity for the Pink Menno network to strengthen the capacity of this student-led organization. By connecting with Pink Menno supporters and donors across the country, Bluffton Safe Spaces can increase their self-sufficiency and ability to meet future needs such as this, building their own network.
Any additional amount we raise before the end of the day on October 31 will go directly to the Bluffton Safe Spaces group to use throughout the school year. Was your college a welcoming place? Help make it more so.
Donate here.
