Safe Zone

Safe Zone for Faculty and Staff

        Safe Zone was created several years ago to raise awareness and increase understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBTQ) individuals in the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) community. Safe Zone also seeks ways to bring its message to the larger Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana community.
        Safe Zone workshops invite IPFW staff and faculty members to explore the history, language and symbols of the LGBTQ movement, examine homophobia in its larger social and human rights context and help straight colleagues become allies and advocates for the LGBTQ co-workers, family, friends and neighbors.
        Safe Zone also organizes and sponsors public events around LGBTQ issues designed to start discussions and increase understanding of the personal, social and civil rights challenges facing the LGBTQ community.
        Safe Zone for Faculty and Staff also collaborates with the Safe Zone for Students  program to offer training programs that help IPFW students become more sensitive to the challenges facing their LGBTQ classmates and friends, and to become effective allies.
         Faculty and staff members who complete both workshops are asked to sign a pledge to be sensitive and nurturing to students struggling with sexual orientation or sexual identity issues. Each faculty or staff member who completes the workshops will also receive a Safe Zone door plaque that signals to students that the staff/faculty members who display the plaques are open and accepting to LGBTQ students.

"I attended both workshops. And I am happy to report that I had a wonderful opportunity to utilize skills learned in the workshop with a student. It was a remarkable experience for me, and I was so happy to have done the workshop. Although I consider myself in a category of people who understand, embrace and even celebrate the qualities that make us each wonderful and different, I was able to have a better understanding of how to support a student who was in a personal crisis - and to support them effectively - something I would have done differently and probably not as well before taking part in Safe Zone."

                               Victoria Zischke, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Safe Zone Graduate - Spring 2011

Summer 2013 Safe Zone Workshops:

Stay tuned for information on Safe Zone at IPFW summer workshops for faculty and staff.

For more information or to register for a workshop, contact Julie Creek at 481-4140 or creekj@ipfw.edu.  

 WELCOME TO SAFE ZONE FOR STUDENTS!

What is a Safe Zone? A Safe Zone is a place where students can talk freely about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered without fear of criticism or hatred, where LGBT students will not only be supported, but affirmed and valued.

Safe Zone for Students offers workshops designed to help students better understand the challenges facing their LGBT classmates, friends, family and co-workers. Students who complete the workshop will receive a rainbow wristband that signals their commitment to being more effective allies and advocates for LGBT people.

Come to a workshop and compete to win iTunes cards. Free pizza and drinks will be served.

Safe Zone for Students Workshops - Spring 2013

Stay tuned for dates and times for our last Safe Zone for Students workshops of the 2012-13 school year.

LGBTQ RESOURCES

Below is a list of organizations and agencies in and around northeast Indiana that are welcoming and nurturing to LGBTQ individuals. Some also offer counseling and other services especially for members of the LGBTQ community:

The Center for Nonviolence

235 W. Creighton Ave.

 Fort Wayne, IN 46807

260.456.4112 – www.centerfornv.org

The Center for Nonviolence provides education, support and advocacy to end relationship violence and other forms of violence while modeling equality and power sharing.

Sara and Albert Reuben Partners in Health Education - Planned Parenthood of Northeast Indiana

3914 W. Jefferson Blvd.

Fort Wayne, IN 46804

260.969.5698 – www.ppin.org/education

Sara and Albert Reuben Partners in Health Education is the education arm of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, providing education about sexuality and health. The program’s goal is to help people develop a broader understanding of human sexuality and make healthy, responsible decisions.

Fort Wayne Pride

Contact: www.fwpride.org – www.facebook.com/FortWaynePride

Nikki Fultz, Director:  260.602.6860

Fort Wayne Pride has organized the Fort Wayne Pride celebration since 1997. Through the years, crowds have grown from 100 to more than 5,000. Pride is dedicated to bringing safe, fun events to the LGBTQ community and straight allies.

Women’s Bureau

2417 Fairfield Ave.

Fort Wayne, IN 46805

260.424.7977 - www.womensbureau.com

The Women’s Bureau has served more than 350,000 women and children through the Transitions program, which uses a holistic approach to help women overcome addiction; and through the REACT program, which strives to prevent rape, and provides comprehensive services for victims of rape.

YWCA Northeast Indiana

1610 Spy Run Ave.

Fort Wayne, IN 46805

260.424.4908 www.ywca.org   / CRISIS LINE (24/7): 800.441.4073

The YWCA Northeast Indiana is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. The YWCA Northeast Indiana operates Indiana's longest-serving domestic violence crisis shelter, and serves northeast Indiana's most diverse refugee community. YWCA Northeast Indiana serves Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Noble, Wells and Whitley counties.  

Bowen Center

The Otis R. Bowen Center for Human Services, Inc., is a private not-for-profit, comprehensive community mental health center licensed by the Indiana Division of Mental Health. The center’s professional team of psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, therapists and chemical dependency specialists, provides effective help with a full range of personal concerns. (The Bowen Center has offices in Albion, Columbia City, Fort Wayne, Huntington, LaGrange, Plymouth, Syracuse, Wabash, and Warsaw.)

To make an appointment: 1.800.342.5653 / EMERGENCY LINE (24/7): 800.733.5631

Sexual Assault Treatment Center

2270 Lake Ave. Suite 201

Fort Wayne, IN 46805

260.423.2222 – www.fnshealing.org

The Sexual Assault Treatment Center (SATC) provides first-response medical forensic examinations to women, children and men who have been victims of sexual assault.  Services are available 24/7 at no cost to our patients. The SATC responds to sexual assaults in Allen County and the fifteen surrounding counties.

AIDS Task Force

525 Oxford St.

Fort Wayne, IN 46806

260.744.1144

The AIDS Task Force in northeast Indiana is dedicating to improving the quality of life for men, women and children with HIV and AIDS, to educate the community and reduce the incidence of HIV and STD infection, and to increase the public’s understanding of and compassionate response to HIV and AIDS. (Confidential AIDS testing is available.)

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) - Fort Wayne

P.O. Box 5086

Fort Wayne, IN 46805

260.497.8528 – pflagfortwayne@gmail.com – www.ourdems.org/pflagfw

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends through; SUPPORT, to encourage a healthy family and community perspective; EDUCATION, to enlighten the public; and ADVOCACY, to secure equal civil and human rights. PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.

 Northeast Indiana Diversity Library

 P.O. Box 5537

Fort Wayne, IN  46895

260. 481.0783 – www.nidl.info

The Northeast Indiana Diversity Library (NIDL) is both a free-lending library of over 5000 circulating items and an archive of local and regional gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) history. Located in Room B41 in the basement of Helmke Library on the IPFW campus, the library serves over 560 registered patrons who come from all over the Northeast Indiana region and surrounding states. 

Regional and Statewide Organizations

Indiana Youth Group

2943 E. 46^th Street

Indianapolis, IN 46205

317.541.8726 – www.indianayouthgroup.org

Indiana Youth Group’s main function is to provide a safe place for LGBT youth along with programming and gay youth support services within its activity center.  IYG also provides LGBT cultural sensitivity trainings to schools, universities, faith-based organizations, mental health facilities, and government organizations.  IYG also helps Gay-Straight Alliances within Indiana grow and helps students and schools start GSA's.

Lambda Legal – Midwest Regional Office

11 E. Adams St. Suite 1008

Chicago, IL 60603

312.663.4413 – www.lambdalegal.org/mro

Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to safeguard and advance the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and policy work.

 Indiana Equality Action

Box 20621

Indianapolis, IN 46220

888.567.0750 – www.indianaequalityaction.org

Indiana Equality Action (IE Action) is an Indiana non-profit corporation dedicated to advancing equal rights for and fighting discrimination against all Hoosier citizens regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana

1031 E. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN 46202

317.635.4059 – www.aclu-in.org

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded in 1920 to work in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people – including LGBT people - in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS THAT WELCOME LGBT MEMBERS:

Plymouth Congregational Church

501 W. Berry St.

Fort Wayne, IN 46802

260.423.9424 – www.plymouthfw.org

Unitarian Universalist Congregation

5310 Old Mill Road

Fort Wayne, IN 46807

260.744.1867 – www.uufortwayne.org

Congregation Achduth Vesholom  (Reform)

5200 Old Mill Road

Fort Wayne, IN 46807

260.744.4245 – www.templecav.org