Northwest Youth Services, in collaboration with Bellingham Queer Collective, has opened the Q Center in downtown Bellingham, the first LGBTQ+ community and resource center between Seattle and Vancouver.
The Q Center at 1409 Commercial St. will provide two separate gathering spaces: Northwest Youth Services (NWYS) will operate a space for young queer people ages 13-25 to connect with their community and access resources, and Bellingham Queer Collective (BQC) will lease a portion of the space to open its own 18-plus intergenerational third space.
The NWYS Queer Youth Services program provides education, advocacy, support and material resources for queer youth, their families and community providers. Its offerings include the Trans Fashion Treasury with free gender-affirming items like clothing, makeup, binders and wigs.
Research has shown that queer youth have a 120% higher risk of experiencing some form of homelessness, often because of family conflict or rejection. NWYS Executive Director Jason McGill explained that the Q Center will serve as an upstream prevention center to help young people from becoming homeless.
“How you identify is a huge pipeline into being unhoused due to the stigmas associated with queer youth,” McGill said.
The center isn’t only for kids at risk, however. McGill said young people of Whatcom County have been asking for years for more third spaces — safe, welcoming places that are open outside of school hours.
While NWYS is an established nonprofit with nearly 50 years of history, BQC is a volunteer-led organization that has only been on the scene since 2022. The BQC Community Center will be used for meet-ups, workshops, movie nights, quiet reading or working, and resource navigation for those in need.
BQC said in a newsletter that having a dedicated space will allow the group to “connect, celebrate, and advocate” for the local LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.
“We decided to partner with the Bellingham Queer Collective because of the importance of generational learning and healing that will manifest out of this partnership,” McGill said.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
