RAINBOW FAMILIES NEWS

  • 02/05/2021 10:44 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    With our new website seems a good time for a reminder - update your profile.  Members, for example,  should decide what information (if any) you want shared with other members in our Directory.   For members with children, listing their name and birthday ensures they'll receive a birthday card each year (and verify we have your current address!).   Rest assured, Rainbow Families will never sell or share member data.

  • 01/22/2021 5:57 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Let's DO this!    We are ALL going to need some post-pandemic family fun with our community.   Dates for our 2022 getaway weekend are now set:  January 7-9  -  A perfect way to extend your holiday, and ring in the new year, with a great rate negotiated for Rainbow Families.  Click for more info

  • 01/22/2021 12:03 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Rainbow Families' mission states:  We envision, and strive for, a nation where all LGBTQ+ families can legally, openly and safely live in full equality.

    We are grateful for the swift action taken by President Biden, reversing previous discriminatory executive orders.  Let's all hope the pendulum will quickly turn, giving all LGBTQ+ families the rights we deserve.

  • 01/13/2021 2:39 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    To our families & friends in Washington DC and across the nation, please be safe over the next several days.  We can do this; everything we're enduring right now is taking us on that path to a more diverse, inclusive  and equitable future.   Take good care of one another. 
    In pride, Darren Paul-Vance, Executive Director

  • 01/04/2021 3:30 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Welcome to the all-new Rainbow Families homepage.    For some time, the look (and user experience) of our site needed improvement.  We hope you enjoy the end result, and find it easier to navigate.   Soon, you'll see HELP buttons with tips on how to manage your membership, view the member and provider directories, and more. 

  • 12/29/2020 9:22 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    In December, Rainbow Families embarked on a program to support and lift up small businesses in the community - many of whom are struggling because of the pandemic.   Our on-line Holiday Bazaar was new territory for sure - but enjoyed wonderful success, community engagement, and introduced thousands of new customers to these participating businesses.  Additionally, the business owners then donated a percentage of the Bazaar sales back to Rainbow Families.    Thank you to the businesses who joined, and to the people who supported them.

  • 12/16/2020 2:10 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Friends, families, chosen-families, parents & children,

    What a year this has been, and many people understandably await a "return to normal".    But as of this writing over 300,000 families will never have a return to normal.  Plus, our democracy has been tested in ways thought unimaginable.  Social and racial injustice issues. The economy.  Holiday stress.  Home schooling.  And more.  These conditions have taken a tremendous toll on us all.

    However.

    With the innumerable challenges we have endured in 2020, we have also witnessed a rising up - a spirit of togetherness, support and kindness in our beautiful Rainbow Families and the community at large.  Plus, the hope many of us have in our new leadership.

    In the coming new year, let's hold onto that hope, that kindness, and seek to create the change we need for this generation, and for our children's.

    Be safe this holiday season, give yourselves a break, be kind.  We'll get through this.

    Darren Paul-Vance
    Executive Director, Rainbow Families

  • 12/11/2020 5:13 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Rainbow Families has developed several new programs which will begin Q1 2021.   We're excited to offer discussions on mental health in this extended time of Covid, a session for parents with kids considering college, and numerous support groups.  Visit our calendar as we continue to add programs and services for our community.  And we extend our deepest gratitude to the donors and volunteers, who will bring these to fruition.

  • 12/09/2020 11:36 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    We're excited to welcome our winter intern, Maya Falb, to Rainbow Families!  She's a MOCO native, wrapping up her undergrad at Clark University with a focus in psychology and gender studies.  She'll be doing the annual update to our Resource Directory, as well as organizing workshops/discussions around mental health and more.  

  • 11/30/2020 3:07 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Maya Gold with Petwork News

    “Rainbow Families represents celebration.”

    That’s according to Darren Paul-Vance, executive director of the 30-year-old nonprofit Rainbow Families. Based in DC, Rainbow Families provides educational programs, professionally facilitated support groups, connections and empowerment for LGBTQ+ families and prospective parents. When the pandemic hit, the organization instantly pivoted to online events, working to keep the LGBTQ+ community connected and joyful during these isolating times. “It’s really important for our children to be around other families like theirs,” Paul-Vance says. “We have done the best we can do to provide those programs virtually.”

    “We are very proud in that Rainbow Families and our family members — we really represent celebrations and a bit of a ray of sunshine, really, a ray of joy,” Paul-Vance explains. “If you’ll go to our social media, you’re not going to see a litany of depressing posts.   Instead, we’re sharing photos of our beautiful families, and birthdays, and adoption stories. That has really resonated.”

    As the holiday season approaches, Rainbow Families decided to stay true to its mission and celebrate its community as well. The non-profit traditionally has one big fundraising push in December. This year, they wanted to do a program that would lift up local small businesses.

    The Holiday Bazaar was born.

    The Rainbow Families’ website is now the Holiday Bazaar marketplace, which features 21 local businesses — and has room for more, if other independent DC artisans are interested in joining.

    The Bazaar is entirely online. When customers buy from the participating organizations by following links from the Bazaar, a percentage of the profits are donated to Rainbow Families. The event starts on Thanksgiving and runs through New Year’s Day.

    “I’ve always wanted to support them,” says Debbie Jansen, owner of Storied Creatives and a Petworth resident. “I think it’s really important that they’re able to support LGBTQ+ families in the DC area.”

    Jansen makes diorama ornaments  — modern versions of the ornaments that her grandmother and mother had. Holiday markets are a crucial place to sell her art. “This is such a weird year that it’s been really great that there’s another outlet,” she said. “It’s been a really hard year for so many people, it’s a great way for those of us who live in DC to support one another.”

    Joining the Holiday Bazaar as a vendor was a “No-brainer for us,” says Chris Brady, co-owner of Petworth’s award-winning Timber Pizza. “Timber Pizza is proud to support the LGBTQ community in DC and happy to be an ally in these uncertain times. We’re an open-minded and open-arms company and just happy to do our small part and be able to help.”

    To support Rainbow Families and shop local, check out the Holiday Bazaar.

    The Bazaar runs through New Year’s Day. For more information about the event, contact Rainbow Families' Executive Director Darren Paul-Vance.