Katy Bourne the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Sussex Police cut the tape to open the new office of the LGBT Community Safety Forum (LGBT CSF) on Wednesday (February 25).
THE Commissioner was joined by Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp the Divisional Commander for Brighton and Hove, Peter Kyle the Labour parliamentary candidate for Hove & Portslade and Billie Lewis the elected chair of the LGBT CSF.
The office space is provided free of charge to the LGBT CSF through a Charity accommodation initiative.
The LGBT Community Safety Forum is in receipt of a grant of £8,376.20. from the Police and Crime Commissioners’ Safer in Sussex Community Fund to help fund the LGBT CSF Report It initiative and is funded through a grant from the Rainbow Fund.
Billie Lewis, volunteer chair of the LGBT CSF, said: “Having an office space has made us even more accessible to the community. We can now assist the community in reporting Hate crime and other incidents through our Report It initiative via a safe and independent space. We are truly grateful to have been given the opportunity to develop our work programme and strengthen our relationships with other small community organisations.
“We do not have to spend a single penny of our funding on rent, parking or utilities. The only costs incurred are for our telephones and internet. Even our furniture has been donated via recycling organisations like Freegle. In fact 98 percent of our total office structure has been donated. We would like to thank Cat Fletcher from Freegle in particular for all of her support during the set up of the new space.”
The Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum are located on the 6th Floor of Prestomex House, 171-173 Preston Road. Brighton. BN1 6BN.
For more information about the LGBT CSF, click here:
To contact the LGBT CSF, telephone: 01273 231189 or text 07827 811454 or email: info@lgbt-help.com