Welcome to QVA’s quarterly newsletter – please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!
2023 Highlights
2023 was a record-breaking year for QVA, thanks in large part to your support. Highlights include:
- We supported over 100 students with $250k awarded
- We engaged nearly 200 alumni and 100 students at in-person events
- 130 students celebrated Lavender Graduation, the most ever!
- The LGBTQ Center added an affinity group, the Black Queer Club, to the existing slate of Aro/Ace Space, Trans/GNC Group, QTBIPOC Hangout, and Sapphic Circle. These groups help build connection among marginalized LGBTQ+ communities
- Tichara Robertson was elected Student Council President – an incredibly impactful and visible role at UVA in which she advocates for all 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Tichara is a QVA grant recipient, and we are excited to partner with her as she continues working hard to make UVA a place where all students can thrive
Law student: “Thank you so much for the generous award! I am so grateful to QVA, its mission, and the people that make opportunities like this possible. This award will allow me to obtain my degree with less debt, and empowers me to continue the work I have done and hope to do for the LGBTQ+ community in the future.”
Public Policy and Public Health student: “It’s very isolating to work all the time to finance my education, but with the support of QVA, my burden has been lightened significantly. Thank you for being there, thank you for your support, thank you for hearing me, thank you for blessing me with freedom to pursue my education with a degree of normalcy.”
2024 Plans
2024 is QVA’s 25th anniversary! To celebrate, we are planning a slate of events like never before to engage our members and build community. Keep your calendars open for:
- Los Angeles happy hour on Wednesday, April 3 at Ruby Fruit (RSVP today!)
- San Francisco happy hour on Saturday, April 6 at Brenda’s Meat and Three (RSVP today!)
- Both Reunions weekends in Charlottesville in early June (QVA events will be on the official schedule)
QVA is also proud to support the 40th anniversary Gala for Lambda Law, the Law School’s LGBTQ+ group. If you are interested in attending on Friday, April 12 in Charlottesville, please visit their event page for more information.
Of course, we will also continue to bolster and evolve our scholarship and grant programs to help make UVA the best possible environment for all LGBTQ+ students, alumni, faculty, and staff to study, work, and thrive.
Of course, we will also continue to bolster and evolve our scholarship and grant programs to help make UVA the best possible environment for all LGBTQ+ students, alumni, faculty, and staff to study, work, and thrive.
With all the progress we’ve made, there’s still more work to be done to meet the critical demand we face for scholarship funding. We are struggling to meet growing demand and risk falling behind without your help. Please consider making a $100 contribution to the QVA Operating Endowment or the Wavelength Scholarship Endowment using the donate button.
If you would like to discuss how a larger donation could support specific scholarships, please don’t hesitate to contact me at lance@queervirginia.org.
Thank you for your support in building a better UVA community. Together we have achieved so much, and I am excited for us to continue building from here.
Sincerely yours,
Lance C. Guthrie
Board Chair