Sam Adams draws on more than two decades of experience in leading economic, educational and environmental improvement projects as a former mayor, chief of staff, and city commissioner in Portland, Oregon. During his time as former Mayor Vera Katz’s chief of staff, he led staff efforts on several initiatives benefitting the LGBTQ community. In 2003, Sam Adams co-founded the Q Center, a community center that offers services and programs for the city’s LGBTQ residents.
At that time, Portland featured nearly 140 centers that provided services ranging from health and legal assistance to educational programming and homeless outreach. However, few of these services offered LGBTQI-led and -focused programs, and the city’s former gay community center had closed in 1978. Over the years, multiple groups unsuccessfully attempted to open a new center, in part on account of intra-community disagreements and generational differences. In January 2003, Adams and a group of volunteers, started the nonprofit group called the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Questioning Community Center Fund undertook efforts to open a community center. These efforts included extensive polling within the gay community on to identify unmet needs and determining what potential users wanted in a local LGBTQ community center, something previous efforts had failed to do. Inspired by his own experiences as a gay youth in Newport without a community space from which to seek support, Mr. Adams championed the project, even after he left the board in late 2003 to campaign for Portland city commissioner. The first location of Portland Q Center opened its doors on SE Water Avenue in 2005 following two years of outreach, program design and fundraising. It moved into its permanent home in 2008 on 4115 N Mississippi Ave. The center operates with the mission of providing a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrating diversity and visibility. The center provides an assortment of services and resources, including groups that address specific topics of interest. For more information: www.pdxqcenter.org/.
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Sam Adams of Portland
Sam Adams has cofounded several charitable organizations dedicated to solving problems related to sustainability and education. Archives
August 2018
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