Columbus-based KYC pauses expansion into Northwest Ohio, lays off staff amid drop in grant funding

Last year, LGBTQ+ Spectrum of Findlay passed the torch to Columbus-based Kaleidoscope Youth Center (KYC) to help serve queer youth in their northwest corner of Ohio. Now, KYC has to pause that expansion due to a drop in private grant funding. Funding loss has affected a host of LGBTQ+ nonprofits, not just KYC, said Amanda Erickson, interim executive director. The organization has had to cut an advocacy coordinator, a behavioral health practitioner and the Findlay liaison to meet its budget. "In order to stabilize the organization as a whole, we're having to make difficult choices about eliminating certain positions and programs," Erickson said. "It does not feel responsible to expand when we don't have the resources to do so." KYC has not cut any other programs, but Erickson said the staff's capacity might be limited going forward. In the meantime, Erickson said KYC is connecting with people in Findlay who can help serve LGBTQ+ youth and host the area's annual Pride celebration. Queer youth can also access behavioral health programs through KYC's telehealth offerings. "Hopefully in the future when things are a little bit more stable and we have more resources, we'll be able to come back [to Findlay] and try again," she said. Erickson hopes new resources can be found by engaging the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, she said. "We need to make sure that less of our budget is reliant on grants that can disappear at the drop of a hat," Erickson said. "We're all just trying to figure out how to get through the, hopefully, short-term [challenges] and stay strong." 'Heartbroken' youth Arielle Patty, a licensed professional counselor in Northwest Ohio, had been coordinating a support group for LGBTQ+ youth for several years on behalf of LGBTQ+ Spectrum of Findlay. When the organization pulled the plug on that support group last July, Patty told the LGBTQ+ youth that very same day. "They were absolutely heartbroken," Patty said. "For most of them, they were the only gay kid or trans kid in their school – one of them goes to a school where a teacher doesn't believe in dinosaurs – so the group was the only place where they felt normal." Patty was excited that KYC was going to be able to come in and restart the youth support group and was ready to share her knowledge with her successor. She completely understands why KYC is not able to pick up the youth group and hopes that the nonprofit landscape changes to "where funding isn't a constant fight." In the meantime, many of the youth now see Patty in her private practice, where she focuses on LGBTQ+ youth. "We just need more places for these youth to feel safe," Patty said. "That really is the bare minimum." The Picnic lives on One of LGBTQ+ Spectrum of Findlay's most visible offerings was their annual Pride celebration, an event that dates back to the early 2010s and has annually drawn thousands of participants. When the organization closed up shop in 2025, a volunteer group of local residents came together to ensure that Findlay did not go without a summer Pride event. "We've been really focused on the decentralization of Pride," said Ryan Spath, a member of that Findlay Pride planning group. "Just because one organization is no longer around doesn't mean that there is no support in the community." The planning group's work culminated in a Pride Potluck event in June. Spath said the success of the events were partly due to canvassing businesses to find sources of support already embedded in the community. The goals remain to replicate at least the Potluck for 2026, but with larger aims of letting the community know that there are LGBTQ-supportive businesses all over the area. "We want people to visit our website and see that there are still folks on the ground doing this work," Spath said. "And for those businesses or organizations that want to support our community, we want to help uplift their efforts." Spath said those efforts are especially important in this area of Ohio that can feel isolating for LGBTQ+ residents. He points to a 2025 Pride event in which a gay man in his 70s – who had lived in Findlay his whole life – was bowled over by the LGBTQ+ support he encountered. "The reactions that we get from folks like that makes all of this work rewarding," Spath said. The Buckeye Flame is a newsroom dedicated to amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ Ohioans to support community and civic empowerment through the creation of engaging content that chronicles their triumphs, struggles, and lived experiences.