Queer Centre Comox Valley
We’re looking for new board members!
Interested?
Visit our form here: link
We are a registered non-profit society. Our full legal name is Queer Centre Vancouver Island Community Resource and Education Society.
Visibility is Accessibility
We do not currently have a place in Comox Valley that flies a pride flag year round.
When you move to a new place, where do you go? How do you find your people? Who do you ask which doctors will allow you to access HRT? Who do you ask where local STI tests take place? Where’s your guiding star leading you to community?
When people need help, they need to know where to go. Mutual aid starts with friends. Access to community and the building of relationships. It isn’t clear where to go right now. We are crafting the landing pad. The first stepping stone.
Where do you start, when you’re looking for help?
The place in town with the pride flag out front.
Funding?
Our MINIMUM opening amount is $15,000 in the bank before we rent a building.
More importantly, we need to sustain ourselves once we are open.
We are exploring multiple avenues to achieve these goals.
To help Sustain Funding and Thrive, Queer Centre hosts the Queer for Queer artist Collective.
Art by, and for, Queer Artists – this gallery space will serve as the foundational opening and central physical space for the Queer Centre.
Seeking Partnerships:
This is a community collaboration. We want to unite other non-profit organizations and provide a central space for any org providing 2SLGBTQIA+ focused support to host workshops, groups, gatherings.
Our purpose is to provide space.
Let’s work together.
Endless grant writing:
We are actively working on finding and applying for grants. Do you know of one that sounds like it would fit this project perfectly?
Shoot us an email!
Our best bet will be larger grants that provide consistent and regular funding. For these, you typically need a year’s worth of operation.
What’s a “third space”?
A third place refers to a social environment that exists outside of the two primary spaces most people engage with: the home (first space) and the workplace or school (second space). Third spaces are informal, neutral, and often public places where individuals can gather, socialize, and build community without the pressures associated with home or work responsibilities.
Yes, we know of gay bars, but how about a queer hub that revolves around community and Safety; A space for all ages.
It is the goal to create accessible space for EVERYONE!! All Ages, All Genders, folk of all socioeconomic statuses and all brain types.
Comox Valley is sorely lacking in inter generational spaces that you don’t need to pay to exist within. Cost can be a strong barrier to community, especially to those who are in need of it the most.
Youth can’t enter alcohol centered spaces, as well as those who may struggle with substance use, be in recovery, or prefer alcohol-free environments. This severs their connection to community – if all that’s available is adult aimed events.
Cost to enter events excludes those who might be struggling financially and would benefit most from a mutual aid network in the first place. It will always be a foundational goal of ours to provide free accessible events for all ages.
Centralized Organization
This is about unity.
Centralized resources. Centralized organization.
Pride societies, organizers of yearly festivities.
2SLGBTQIA+ health educators. Counsellors.
Protest and counter-hate organizers. Legal warriors.
What if we all could be in the same space together?
What if we shared a table?
A bulletin board?
A building?
Wouldn’t that make all this organizing
easier?
We are a central organization for other non-profits with a focus on queer subjects.
Every queer resource in one space. House these non-profits. Let’s share our resources!!
Queer Centre strives to stabilize and connect community through continuity and accessibility.
How are we going to do it?
Step 1: Assembly
Very many meetings. Board assembly, community organizer outreach, opening of a bank account, branding, website, policy writing, incorporation as a non profit society. Have a community meeting with a presented plan.
Step 2: Operating without a space
Continue hosting the events we (the board) have already been organizing. Reach out and grow the Queer Centre Society into a broad umbrella with many volunteers who have already been organizers of local community events. Events previously hosted through loose social groups may become Queer Centre Official, allowing them access to our network, greater stability, and promotion.
Step 3: Fundraising
Events held specifically for funding our current operations and eventual space. Hosting Queer Centre Official events through our partnerships’ usage of space, offering events with more organization behind them, like workshops. Building of a membership base.
Step 4: Larger funding
After 1 year post incorporation and consistent operations we will have the ability to apply for larger grants that offer consistent funding. Built reputation, successful partnerships, community connections, and a greater membership base.
Step 5: Secure a space
Once we have secured the funding, we rent a building. Renovations begin. Opening night celebrations. Continue our current operations, now in one central location. Maintain the space with a mixture of income from grants, memberships, and a gallery based structure selling pride merchandise and queer artwork from our centre.
Step 6: Expand
Give pride societies and community organizers access to our work.
Change queer culture to become more accessible. Provide stability to volunteer run 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations through connection.
Meet the Board and Volunteers
Jojo Jaeger
(he/they) | President
Jojo takes community very seriously. Though he is relatively new to the island, spending his prior 7 years abroad, he is committed to building a solid network here for himself and others.
Jojo is the founder of Queer For Queer, Comox Valley’s Queer Artist Collective. His artwork explores Vancouver Island landscapes and abstract connections as a transmasculine individual.
He does our outreach, thriving on community organizing and emails.
Susan Young
(she/her) | Bookkeeper
An Island dweller from our BC coast, Haida Gwaii influences Susan’s soul. She is experienced in grass roots non-profit society work with women’s groups.
Susan is semi-retired, working at her home business helping humans process financial responsibilities.
Peace and living my best life.
Avery Stefanson
(she/her) (they/them) | Secretary
For Queer Centre, Avery does discord and socials moderation, organizes regular community events, networks with volunteers and community members, and has recently joined the board as (interim?) secretary.
Outside of Queer Centre, Avery is an Education Assistant in the school district, an employee in a photo lab, often works for youth programs and summer camps, does organizing in online video game communities, provides mutual aid to friends, and has a BFA in Film Production that she would love to make use of one day.
Avery grew up in Victoria, went to university in Toronto, and moved to the Comox Valley in 2024. Since moving here, she has found herself surrounded by a connected and empowering community, and wants to help build access to that community for anyone who needs it.
Theo O’Brien
(he/him) | Treasurer
Theo is a member of the local 2SLGBTQ+ community, a long time resident of the Comox Valley, and a parent.
Theo volunteers at Queer Centre because he values community service and teamwork and is inspired by Queer Centre’s accomplishments and potential.
He will help wherever he is able to build and maintain Queer Centre operations so the community can use it as a vehicle for running helpful programs, inspiring initiatives, and fun events.
He is currently training to be a bookkeeper, an opportunity graciously provided to him by Susan Young, ex treasurer and current bookkeeper of Queer Centre.
You can find him cooking at Queer Coffee and Chill on Sundays.
Margie Mathewson
(she/her) | Member at Large
Margie moved to Vancouver Island in 2024 and immediately fell in love with the landscape and people. After lots of moving during the last two decades, she’s excited to put down roots and roll up her sleeves to help to build the community she wants to find in Comox Valley. The vision of the Queer Centre resonates deeply with her, and she looks forward to establishing a home base for local events.
She brings a professional background in building and growing start-ups and years of experience with mentoring and volunteering. When she’s not working with the Queer Centre, you can find her in the woods, since the magic of the moss and trees will never grow old.
Skyler McGavel
(he/they) | Member at Large
Events
A proud third-generation Valley local and descendant of John and Lynn Marinus, Skyler channels their family’s leadership legacy to help the Comox Valley grow into an even more inclusive community. With over a decade of experience in social services, they are passionate about creating intentional queer spaces across the Valley.
When not building community connections, Skyler can be found kayaking, frolicking in the forest, or being a devoted dog dad. Skyler is committed to bringing humor, heart, and a deep commitment to fostering safe, vibrant spaces for everyone in the Valley.