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The Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a countywide health initiative last week that earmarks $1.5 million for expanding healthcare and support services for LGBTQ+ residents.
The funding supports the LGBTQ+ Community Health Access, Navigation & Health Equity Initiative, which expands access to gender-affirming healthcare, mental health services, crisis response, prevention programs and healthcare navigation for transgender, nonbinary and LGBTQ+ residents across Alameda County.
County officials said Aug. 4 that the initiative grew out of concerns over persistent disparities in healthcare access for LGBTQ+ residents in the wake of federal cuts stemming from the Trump administration. Those issues were discussed during a June 2025 hearing of the Alameda County Together for All ad hoc committee, chaired by Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas.
During public comment at the 2025 meeting, Joe Hawkins, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, told supervisors the center had lost a $622,000 federal grant and that “one-third of our budget is gone.”
He said the cuts threatened things like HIV prevention efforts.
Following the hearing, Bas and Supervisor Nate Miley sought funding for the initiative through the county’s Measure W Equitable County Services Fund. The money comes from a countywide half-cent sales tax approved by Alameda County voters in November 2020. Its purpose is to fund county services like housing and homelessness programs, mental health services and other social safety net programs.
“As federal threats and attacks to queer and trans lives continue, it is our collective power that will keep our people safe, housed and healthy,” Bas said in a statement. “I am proud to stand with the LGBTQIA+ community in funding and launching the LGBTQIA+ Community Health Access, Navigation & Health Equity Initiative.”
The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center will lead the initiative in partnership with health organizations and nonprofits, which together provide behavioral health, youth and medical services across Alameda County.
Alameda County Health said in a letter to the Board of Supervisors that the partnership is expected to serve about 1,050 people each year. The funding will help connect residents with healthcare and public benefits while expanding outreach in the south and east parts of the county.
It will also support mental health and peer services, subsidize gender-affirming care and expand access to HIV testing as well as HIV prevention medications like pre-exposure prophylaxis. Along with funding those services, the initiative will create a countywide data system to track outcomes and identify gaps in care.
Hawkins said the initiative will allow partner organizations to coordinate services while expanding access to no-fee gender-affirming care, mental health support and youth programming.
“The Center is proud to steward these critically needed funds in collaboration with other nonprofits, delivering no-fee gender-affirming care, mental health access, and youth support,” Hawkins said. “We’re refusing erasure and laying the foundation for resilient LGBTQ+ healthcare infrastructure that can weather the current crisis.”
– Story by Christopher Vinasco, Bay City News Service
