Hello,

My name is Vanessa Kitzie, an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. We’re looking for LGBTQIA+ community leaders, librarians, and healthcare professionals currently practicing in Indiana to participate in a half-day community forum on August 22nd from 10 am-2 pm EST at the Allen County Public Library - Fort Wayne, IN. The forum will focus on improving services for LGBTQ+ populations to support health promotion and is part of a larger Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant.

Librarians and healthcare professionals will engage in semi-structured conversations with LGBTQ+ community leaders from Indiana. The conversation will follow the World Café concept for facilitating large-group dialogue, which has been successfully applied in public health to research the health information needs of LGBTQ+ communities. The forum will not be recorded; instead, notes taken collectively by participants will be shared with researchers. All forum participants’ identities will be kept confidential. Food and beverages will be served. More information about the forum can be found in the following forum video and on our Instagram @lgbtq.healthguide.

If you are interested in participating, please fill out this (brief) form: Information Form. Please also feel free to pass this message and the flyer below along to anyone you know who might be interested in participating. After completing the form, I will contact you via email regarding your participation. This forum has received ethical approval from UofSC’s Institutional Review Board (IRB)(Pro0008587).

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!