The Samara Fund Awards $131,250 in Grants to Support Vermont LGBTQ+ Led Projects, Organizations, and Scholarships

The Samara Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation is pleased to announce $108,000 in grants to 30 organizations across the state in 2025. These grants include funding for LGBTQ+ centered events, projects, and organizational operating support. The fund also provided 15 scholarships to graduating seniors from across the state totaling $23,250.  

Led by a group of queer and trans Vermonters, the fund supports transformational grants and scholarships for individuals and organizations working to advance the empowerment, health, and safety of LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive people across Vermont. These grants and scholarships are made possible by generous donors to the Samara Fund’s annual campaign and annual distributions from the Samara Fund, the Douglas E. Howe and Frank E. Shivers Memorial Fund, and the Aretinolio Barbarossa Fund.  

The Samara Fund’s priorities are:  

• Queer and trans-led projects and organizations 
• Projects that center, are led by, and/or prioritize BIPOC and/or trans Vermonters 
• Elders and youth 
• Queers with disabilities 
• Work focused on harm-reduction initiatives (including HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy) 
• Projects meaningfully working beyond Chittenden County 
• Smaller budget projects 
• Long-term projects 

2025 Grant Recipients 

Addison Central Teens received $5,000 to support and grow MiddPride from a yearly event to year-round support for local queer and trans neighbors, including weekly queer group and community events such as queer trivia nights, film nights, and queer history and artworks.  

AIDS Project of Southern Vermont received $5,000 to expand peer support and affirming health services for LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive individuals through targeted outreach, community wellness events, and harm reduction efforts to increase HIV and Hepatitis C testing.  

Alliance for Community Transformation received $3,500 for YourSpace: Event Series for LGBTQ+ Youth and Allies, a free monthly event creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ and allied youth in Bennington County. Planned activities, determined by the youth team, may include Halloween celebrations, movie nights, art socials, writing workshops, cooking classes, and more. 

Between The Willows received $3,000 for general operating support. They uplift queer voices through theater and dance by highlighting queer-written or queer-focused stories and bring them to Burlington stages.  

Black Girls Kissing received $5,000 to complete a genre-bending anthology short film series that follows a relationship between two Black queer women throughout multiple times/realities. 

Central Vermont Community Radio received $1,000 for WGDR and WGDH programs, which offer locally made shows focused on local news, stories, community needs, and music, including coverage of the attacks facing the LGBTQ+ community nationally and locally. 

Common Ground Center received $3,000 to support Camp Outright, a partnership with Outright Vermont to provide a residential camp program serving about 130 queer teens each year.  

Conscious Homestead received $5,000 for general operating support of their Winooski based learning urban farm, which centers Black and Brown land-based healing, liberation, and community care.  

Education Justice Coalition of Vermont received $5,000 to support statewide programs that empower LGBTQ+ youth, including the statewide youth gathering and other initiatives, helping build confidence, relationships, and organize for change in local schools and communities. 

Elderly Services received $3,000 to provide SAGECare Certification in LGBTQ+ Aging Cultural Competency for elder service staff.  

Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History received $1,500 to offer cartooning workshops, giving local teens a unique opportunity to learn from a nationally celebrated artist while exploring storytelling, identity, and creative expression.  

HIV/HCV Resource Center received $5,000 for general operating support for unmet needs in harm reduction and treatment programs. The funds will go towards supplies like MediHoney, Xeroform bandages, gloves, and disinfectants used in wound care.  

Lamoille Pride received $1,000 in support of their community Pride event.  

Northeast Kingdom Organizing received $5,000 to support the Youth Caucus through student-led workshops and leadership training leading up to NEK Day at the State House.  

Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont received $3,000 to offer a series of workshops for queer farmers and farm workers to increase skills and confidence related to tractor safety, repairs, and operations.   

Out in the Open received $5,000 for general operating support. This will help fund their year-round work for rural LGBTQ+ liberation and justice within Vermont.  

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England received $5,000 to support their Gender Affirming Care Fund, which ensures access to gender affirming care for patients regardless of ability to pay.  

Pride Center of Vermont received $5,000 to support the 2025 2STLGBTQIA+ Health and Wellness Conference, which offers opportunities for LGBTQ+ and allied adults, including healthcare and wellness professionals, to share and learn self and community medical and mental health care strategies. The conference is a collaboration with Out in the Open and Outright Vermont.  

SafeArt received $2,000 for their Youth Wellbeing Project, a year-round preventative program providing youth with safe spaces through free drop-in times, in-school programming, summer camps, and youth employment programs. 

Sandglass Theater received $2,000 to support their collaborative project, Praise!, an original dance theater performance that opens the door for conversation around sacred bodies, queerness, and coming into ourselves.  

The Vermont Asian Jewish Family Podcast received $5,000 for production costs of their podcast series, which uplifts the Asian Jewish LGBTQ+ community by centering queer voices that are rarely represented in mainstream or even LGBTQ+ media.  

Turning Point of Addison County received $3,500 to hold weekly meetings for those who identify as LGBTQ+, not just around the topic of recovery from addiction, but in a more broadly based social gathering.   

University of Vermont Prism Center received $5,000 to support their free 2026 Translating Identity Conference. 

Vermont Asylum Assistance Project received $5,000 for resilience and advocacy in the face of rising anti-immigrant and anti-trans hostility, including immigration legal services for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. 

Vermont CARES received $5,000 for the formation of a staff position to expand HIV testing, case management, and SSP services including collaborating on more psycho-social events that enable community members that often feel disconnected to build community and gain valuable connections. 

Vermont Cooperative for Practice Improvement & Innovation received $2,500 to provide mental health supports for trans Vermonters as well as the broader LGBTQ+ community through workforce development and cohort-based learning. 

Vermont International Film Foundation received $1,500 for their short film series QUEER FILM, PAST & PRESENT: Canonical Avant-Garde Meets the New Wave. Funds will support purchasing the rights to the films, copies of the films themselves, staffing for the event, and honoraria.  

Vermont State University received $1,500 for TeachOut Vermont: Building Community for LGBTQ+ Educators in Vermont. They will use the funds to create and distribute merchandise for educators to wear and display at events, fostering visibility, connection, and belonging within the LGBTQ+ community.  

Warlé received $1,000 for their Vermont Stories of LGBTQ+ Caregiving & Community event. Funds will be used for honoraria, talent, production, technical needs, marketing and communications, transportation, accommodations, meals, and more.  

Wayward Ark Productions received $1,500 to support their production of Break a Lash: A Tale of Rural Drag, a docuseries directed by Laina Barakat & Paulee Mekdeci. Wayward is dedicated to telling honest stories through unorthodox methods of filmmaking. 

WRJ Pride received $1,500 for a week of free events for the Upper Valley’s LGBTQ+ community. Funding will help cover costs for space rentals, honorariums, speakers, performers, food, and more.  

Yestermorrow received $2,000 for LGBTQ+ Carpentry Fundamentals Scholarships. Funds will fully cover tuition costs for 10 students in a weekend-long LGBTQ+ Intro to the Woodshop course, or partial scholarships for their LGBTQ+ Beginning Woodshop week-long course.  

Visit vermontcf.org/samara to learn more.