LGBTQ+ Cen­ter

KYC’s LGBTQ+ Youth and Young Adult Cen­ter is a safe space for youth (ages 11 – 24) and their fam­i­lies to be edu­cat­ed as well as to build strong inter­per­son­al con­nec­tions with oth­er LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. Many indi­vid­u­als who attend pro­grams are not able to express them­selves in every area of their lives, whether that be at school, work, or home. When you’re at the Cen­ter, ​“you just feel safe,” as one high school­er put it. 

With events through­out the month, our LGBTQ+ Cen­ter pro­vides enter­tain­ment, edu­ca­tion, and social activ­i­ties at our 650 E. Algo­nquin Road, Schaum­burg Office. (Find us in Suite 104!) Teens can come dur­ing Com­mu­ni­ty Nights or QTBIPOC Nights to enjoy arts, watch movies and TV shows, play board games, play with make­up, do com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice activ­i­ties, and more. Or, they can get involved in the LGBTQ+ Advi­so­ry Coun­cil (AKA the Rain­bow Room YAC) and gain lead­er­ship skills. 

Young adults can find oppor­tu­ni­ties for social gath­er­ings, net­work­ing, job and career sup­port by email­ing the Cen­ter and get­ting involved with our North Sub­ur­ban Com­mu­ni­ty Net­work for queer professionals.

To learn more about pro­gram­ming or to reg­is­ter for events, please con­tact us.

LGBTQ+ Cen­ter Programs

COVID-19 Update: Please con­tact [email protected]​kennethyoung.​org to con­firm whether upcom­ing events will be in-per­son or vir­tu­al. All in-per­son events require face cov­er­ings over the nose and mouth. We will also be check­ing tem­per­a­tures at the door. Capac­i­ty is lim­it­ed to 16 per­sons, and reg­is­tra­tion is required ahead of time. Vir­tu­al events are held through Zoom. Please con­tact [email protected]​kennethyoung.​org with any questions.

LGBTQ+ Advi­so­ry Council

This group will meet every oth­er Tues­day from 4:30PM to 5:30PM.

Join our lead­er­ship and advo­ca­cy group for LGBTQ+ Youth (ages 13 — 17)!

Click here to register.

Par­ent and Guardian Sup­port Group

This group will meet on the sec­ond and last Tues­day of the month from 7:15PM to 8:30PM.

Join this group for par­ents and guardians of LGBTQ+ youth (ages 11 — 24).

Click here to register.

QTBIPOC Night

This group will meet on the first Thurs­day of the month from 5:00PM to 7:00PM.

Any queer youth of col­or ages 11 – 24 are invit­ed to attend this pri­or­i­tized, fun space! This is a youth-led pro­gram in which the group decides what activ­i­ties to do each week. Past activ­i­ties includ­ed a talav­era night, mehn­di night, Eupho­ria night, and more! QTBIPOC staff are there to offer sup­port and ensure safe­ty of par­tic­i­pants. Email our team or call/​text us at 847.212.1747 to get the Zoom link!

Com­mu­ni­ty Night

Com­mu­ni­ty Night is held every Thurs­day after QTBIPOC Night (first Thurs­day of the month) from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

Join our group of LGBTQ+-identified youth ages 14 – 19 who get togeth­er to meet oth­er queer youth. We like to watch TV shows togeth­er, dis­cuss our thoughts, and some­times do activ­i­ties like bak­ing, col­or­ing, and mak­ing playlists. Fun facil­i­ta­tors will be there to make sure new peo­ple feel includ­ed, so come on by! . Email our team or call/​text us at 847.212.1747 to get the Zoom link!

Pho­to Tour

Check out our newest pho­tos of the LGBTQ+ Center!

Join our Pride­fest Plan­ning Committee!

You may not know this, but our Cen­ter was the first-ever to orga­nize a Pride fes­ti­val in Schaum­burg, IL in June of 2021! We have big plans for this year. Do you want to get involved? Email our team or call/​text us at 847.212.1747.