By: Lindsay Wilson/TRT Reporter
Tapestry Health may be well-known for their family planning services but, the non-profit organization also has many programs geared towards the LGBT community since its beginning.
“Even with the programming, at the time, was focused on women’s and reproductive health, there has always been a strong sense and value that the needs of all individuals, particularly those in the LGBT community, need to be served,” said Hutson Inniss, Vice President of Community and Organizational Development.
Tapestry has three federally funded programs which offer many services to the LGBT community. One of the programs, Among Men for Men, funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is a five-year project that gives access to substance abuse treatment and provides effective HIV prevention. According to Inniss, the project focuses on gay and non-gay identified men, particularly of African American and Latino descent. The project has five staff members and is based out of Tapestry’s Springfield office, though it covers all of the Western Massachusetts area.
Inniss, who previously served as Tapestry’s director of LGBT and HIV services, said that staff members provide outreach activities and will “go to area bars and different locations where gay and bi-sexual identifying men tend to hang out.” These activities are often sponsored in collaboration with either the state or with other programs and agencies’ staff members will often take a mobile van out and provide HIV testing and STD screening right at the bar.
“We’re really thoughtful about that,” said Inniss. “We want to make sure that the service is provided, that there is access to it, that it’s appropriate and that people are making informed decisions. We’re very much in collaboration with the businesses and owners who we have a very strong relationship with.”
The Tapestry Health Web Site explains that the Among Men for Men program also provides access to reproductive health needs, HIV & STD testing, support for substance abuse issues, free hepatitis A & B vaccinations, and a drop-in center that provides regular social and educational events.
Another program is the Western Mass Men’s Health Project (MHP). Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, this program provides HIV prevention specifically to men who have sex with men. The program is also based out of the Springfield office, but care is provided in all four counties of western Massachusetts.
“We provide the training, the support and the guidance of how to have normal conversations about it instead of having an educator come in and talk,” he said.
Another program offered by Tapestry Health is the Breast Health Initiative, part of the Women’s Health Network, which provides screening for breast and cervical cancer.
“There is a great need to focus on health needs with the community in general, but particularly lesbian and bisexual women because there hasn’t been, until recently, a lot of focus work,” said Inniss. “As an organization that works with women and is women owned and led, we absolutely feel we need to support lesbian and bi-sexual women and their health.”
The services provided by Tapestry, according to Inniss, are acceptable and welcoming for people of the LGBT community, and we strive really hard to create that welcoming environment.
“We work hard with forms we have control over to make sure that they are inclusive and welcoming, and for those forms that we don’t have control over, we advocate very strongly for a revision … to ensure that we are including in that particular case, transgendered individuals,” said Inniss.
Tapestry has sponsored youth dances, Pride events and has worked in collaboration with GLAAD. They have also worked with Mass Equality and have provided support for the recent same sex constitutional amendment.
“We can do this only with the support of the community; we’re a non profit organization. Much of Tapestry’s funding comes from contracts and grants. The work that we have done in the past and hope to continue to do can only be done with the support of generous community members,” said Inniss. “We’re really trying to be responsive to community needs. We do what we can as allies. We’re not specifically an LGBT organization but we feel that we’re part of the community, many of our staff, many of our management members identify as gay or lesbian bisexual and we want to make sure that people know that we’re here, and that we’re available.”
Tapestry Health has been involved in services for the LGBT community since it began as a family planning center in 1972. For more information: log on to http://www.tapestryhealth.org/ or call 800-696-7752.
Tapestry Health may be well-known for their family planning services but, the non-profit organization also has many programs geared towards the LGBT community since its beginning.
“Even with the programming, at the time, was focused on women’s and reproductive health, there has always been a strong sense and value that the needs of all individuals, particularly those in the LGBT community, need to be served,” said Hutson Inniss, Vice President of Community and Organizational Development.
Tapestry has three federally funded programs which offer many services to the LGBT community. One of the programs, Among Men for Men, funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is a five-year project that gives access to substance abuse treatment and provides effective HIV prevention. According to Inniss, the project focuses on gay and non-gay identified men, particularly of African American and Latino descent. The project has five staff members and is based out of Tapestry’s Springfield office, though it covers all of the Western Massachusetts area.
Inniss, who previously served as Tapestry’s director of LGBT and HIV services, said that staff members provide outreach activities and will “go to area bars and different locations where gay and bi-sexual identifying men tend to hang out.” These activities are often sponsored in collaboration with either the state or with other programs and agencies’ staff members will often take a mobile van out and provide HIV testing and STD screening right at the bar.
“We’re really thoughtful about that,” said Inniss. “We want to make sure that the service is provided, that there is access to it, that it’s appropriate and that people are making informed decisions. We’re very much in collaboration with the businesses and owners who we have a very strong relationship with.”
The Tapestry Health Web Site explains that the Among Men for Men program also provides access to reproductive health needs, HIV & STD testing, support for substance abuse issues, free hepatitis A & B vaccinations, and a drop-in center that provides regular social and educational events.
Another program is the Western Mass Men’s Health Project (MHP). Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, this program provides HIV prevention specifically to men who have sex with men. The program is also based out of the Springfield office, but care is provided in all four counties of western Massachusetts.
“We provide the training, the support and the guidance of how to have normal conversations about it instead of having an educator come in and talk,” he said.
Another program offered by Tapestry Health is the Breast Health Initiative, part of the Women’s Health Network, which provides screening for breast and cervical cancer.
“There is a great need to focus on health needs with the community in general, but particularly lesbian and bisexual women because there hasn’t been, until recently, a lot of focus work,” said Inniss. “As an organization that works with women and is women owned and led, we absolutely feel we need to support lesbian and bi-sexual women and their health.”
The services provided by Tapestry, according to Inniss, are acceptable and welcoming for people of the LGBT community, and we strive really hard to create that welcoming environment.
“We work hard with forms we have control over to make sure that they are inclusive and welcoming, and for those forms that we don’t have control over, we advocate very strongly for a revision … to ensure that we are including in that particular case, transgendered individuals,” said Inniss.
Tapestry has sponsored youth dances, Pride events and has worked in collaboration with GLAAD. They have also worked with Mass Equality and have provided support for the recent same sex constitutional amendment.
“We can do this only with the support of the community; we’re a non profit organization. Much of Tapestry’s funding comes from contracts and grants. The work that we have done in the past and hope to continue to do can only be done with the support of generous community members,” said Inniss. “We’re really trying to be responsive to community needs. We do what we can as allies. We’re not specifically an LGBT organization but we feel that we’re part of the community, many of our staff, many of our management members identify as gay or lesbian bisexual and we want to make sure that people know that we’re here, and that we’re available.”
Tapestry Health has been involved in services for the LGBT community since it began as a family planning center in 1972. For more information: log on to http://www.tapestryhealth.org/ or call 800-696-7752.
Tapestry Health: Many services for the LGBT community