MPowermentBOI

by Tyler Fisher

Hi there. My name is Tyler and I’m the project coordinator for Mpowerment here in Boise. Though the project has been in Boise for over three years our purpose and mission is still not well known and I’d like to quickly tell you about us. We’re here to build community and improve it’s health.

We’re a not for profit organization that is for and lead by gay, bi, and curious men ages 18 to 29. Those ages may seem arbitrary but this is the demographic that has been shown to benefit from this type of programming. Here are a few ways we try to accomplish our goals:

Create a safe space – We have an adorable house in West Downtown for our project space. It’s homey and comfortable. This is a judgment free place where our participants can be themselves.

Social events – For anybody to become friends they have to have a reason to get together. We have weekly coffee gatherings, monthly workshops, hangouts, movie nights, barbecues, gardening days, and more. We also throw large events each year for the greater community to get to see who we are.

Healthy relationships – We build relationships by being and working together. The project builds a strong base where gay, bi, and curious men 18 to 29 learn to depend on each other and make change.

Healthy sex – We promote a sex positive environment where we can talk openly about what makes us all human which is having sex and the need for intimacy. We actively and strongly discourage any sort of sex or HIV status shaming. We also work at keeping our participants up to date on the most current and real world safer sex practices with access to unlimited supplies of condoms and lube.

Real world support – We’re also here to help the best we can in the things our participants need to be a healthy people such as signing up for health insurance signing up for health insurance or finding a job.

There you have it. A quick rundown of what makes us special here at MpowermentBOI. Keep up to date with what we’re doing at facebook.com/mpowermentboi.