Palm Springs, CA – The LGBT Community Center of the Desert (The Center) has signed an agreement with Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) to launch a new program for LGBT older workers, known as SAGEWorks, announced John O’Connor, Executive Director of The Center.
SAGEWorks is designed to provide crucial LGBT-affirming skills building workshops,
online resources and connections to potential employers, helping today’s LGBT older adults to remain productive, vital, and contributing members of the nation’s work force. A seven-week program, it is designed to:
- Increase participants’ technology and job skills to remain competitive in the modern work place
- Help them gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of job search strategies as well as community-based employment resources
- Assist them in increasing their income, thereby improving their financial security and resources.
“We are pleased to be working with SAGE to be able to offer SAGEWorks here in the desert,” says O’Connor. “Age discrimination in the workplace is all too common, and can be just another layer for LGBT seniors who have faced a lifetime of stigma. The Center will be offering this program twice during the coming year and anticipates the first one to start in March.”
Funded nationally by the Walmart Foundation, SAGEWorks is also offered in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Denver.
In October, 2011, became The LGBT Community Center of the Desert. The mission of The Center is to enrich the lives of the LGBT community. While maintaining and strengthening senior services as a SAGE affiliate, The Center has undertaken a transformation. Key areas of change are a major expansion of the counseling program, a youth crisis collaboration with the Trevor Project and more outreach to women, people of color and the transgender community.
