The Marie Equi Center Story
A STORY OF RADICAL, QUEERRESISTANCE & WHOLE-PERSON CARE
How Our Journey Began
Founded in 2014 by Dr. Angela Carter & Katie Cox, The Equi Institute (now The Marie Equi Center) was established with a mission to empower & improve the health of LGBTQIA2S+ folks in the Pacific Northwest. Following the legacy of our namesake Dr. Marie Equi, The Marie Equi Center centers our voice as a bold, radical, and unapologetically queer advocate for the communities we serve.
Our Continuing Journey
From 2014-2019, we facilitated Oregon's first Trans & Queer specific Primary Care Clinic Program. Our clinic team conducted over 4000 visits with more than 800 trans, gender diverse, intersex and queer patients.
The most important lesson from our work in primary care was that healing for our community must address the causes of health inequity. In order to create more resilient and sustainable community health, our work must go beyond 20 minutes of service provided in an office. We must reach beyond the walls of our institution and eliminate the social, racial, and economic roots of injustice to create a healthy community.
In 2019, we shifted our focus from direct care to advocacy & closing gaps of social determinants of health in two main capacities, through our (1) Community Health Program as well as a (2) statewide, community-led data justice project, “Because I Count: LGBTQIA2S+ in Oregon”
Equi Today
Through our Community Health & Recovery Programs, our team of Community Health Workers and Certified Recovery Mentors work one on one with unhoused and insecurely housed LGBTQAI2S+, BIPOC, and disabled folks providing culturally specific peer support, services and systems navigation, harm reduction, and wound care. We provide this care through a person-centered and holistic lens. Through our advocacy work, we aim to uplift and spotlight the lived experiences of LGBTQAI2S+ folks in a way that creates tangible systems change.
