Sacramento LGBT Community Center

The Sacramento LGBT Community Center works to create a region where all LGBTQ+ people thrive. It supports health and wellness, advocates for equity and justice, and works to uplift a diverse and culturally rich LGBTQ+ community. Its service area reaches from Chico to Fresno and from the East Bay to South Lake Tahoe, and families drive more than an hour each week to bring their children to its youth groups.

The Center is Sacramento's oldest nonprofit charity serving the LGBTQ+ community. It began in 1978 as the Lambda Community Fund, opened its first Lambda Community Center in 1986, and has carried several names since, settling on the Sacramento LGBT Community Center in 2013. Its headquarters at 1015 20th Street in Lavender Heights is being renovated to add accessibility upgrades, more confidential service rooms, new community spaces and a gallery. Through construction, all core programs continue at a temporary location at 2031 K Street, and a grand reopening is planned for fall 2026. A second site, the Marsha P. Johnson Center South on Stockton Boulevard, opened in 2021 and offers HIV, syphilis and COVID testing, PrEP navigation, counseling, support groups and referrals for gender-affirming care.

Young people are at the heart of the work. The Q-Spot is a drop-in center for LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 to 24, with a computer lab, an LGBTQ+ library, art projects, life-skills workshops, free HIV and HCV testing, crisis intervention and youth groups for ages 13 to 17 and 18 to 24. Youth can earn free technology such as phones and laptops through programs with LGBT Tech and PowerOn. Housing programs, reached through the Q-Spot, include the Short-Term Transitional Emergency Placement program and the Transitional Living Program for 18 to 24 year olds who have been victims of crime. The Center also hosts Q-Prom, a dance for teens 13 to 20.

Adults and older adults have their own paths to support. Free counseling is available to anyone 13 to 25 by appointment, with a sliding scale for those 25 and older, and peer respite, community support groups and Golden Grounds, a weekly Zoom gathering for LGBTQ+ seniors, round out the picture. Transgender services include community resource navigation, emergency motel shelter for up to five nights, name and gender marker changes and free legal assistance. The Center also offers crime victim services and individual advocacy.

The Economic Justice Program supports employment with career counseling, resume and interview coaching, workshops and the You Betta Work job fairs, while the Training Institute leads customized LGBTQ+ cultural humility, implicit bias and transgender and gender expansive identity trainings for employers and organizations. The Center advocates on public policy and works alongside Sacramento Pride.

Anyone can stop in during public hours, Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or call (916) 442-0185. Volunteer for Pride, a program or an event, become a Center member, give monthly, join the Vision of Equality Giving Circle or rent community meeting space.