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The Human Services Advisory Board and San Marcos City Council awarded Bobcat Pride Scholarship Fund a $5,000 grant to be administered over the next year. With this grant, BPSF will be able to fund at least 16 Jeremy O. Torres Emergency Stabilization awards to LGBTQIA+ residents of San Marcos.
“This [grant] will allow BPSF to continue to serve LGBTQIA+ 18 to 25 year olds in San Marcos who have financial emergencies in the upcoming year,” said BPSF Operations Director Stacie Mc-Gee.
Originally founded in 2010 by Texas State alumni and friends, Bobcat Pride Scholarship Fund organized to provide more support and inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community at Texas State University. The group established a scholarship to provide resources to support LGBTQIA+ Bobcats. In 2013, the group established the Emergency Stabilization Fund (ESF) to assist LGBTQIA+ Bobcats who faced unexpected financial emergencies that could disrupt their ability to remain enrolled in school. Jeremy O. Torres, a faculty member in the Department of Theater at Texas State, was an integral member of the BPSF community. When Torres unexpectedly passed away in 2015, the ESF was renamed in his honor.
In August 2019, BPSF expanded its scope within the LGBT community to include not only students at Texas State University but to all emergent adults in the greater San Marcos area between the ages of 18 and 25 who have minority sexual and gender identities.
“The BPSF Jeremy O. Torres Emergency Stabilization Fund recognizes people of all minority sexual and gender identities experience systemic oppression and are therefore often at higher risk for discrimination in housing, employment and even within their own families,” McGee said. “Our ability to provide immediate grants of up to $300 has helped recipients avoid homelessness, served as a bridge between employment opportunities and provided assistance for emergency pet needs, car repairs, medical and mental health-related bills and so much more.”
The HSAB grant will help BPSF continue its mission to help those within the San Marcos-area LGBTQIA+ community meet their needs in times of economic hardship.
“100% of BPSF emergency stabilization grant awardees state that the timeliness of the organization's response has been unmatched in their critical times of need,” McGee said.
To learn more about BPSF, visit the website at bobcatpridescholarship.com or find the organization on social media via Facebook: facebook.com/Bobcat-PrideScholarship and Instagram: instagram. com/bobcat_pridesf.
