MAUREEN
What does it take to live and thrive in London as a queer migrant man or a queer man of colour? That's the question we've been asking scores of men involved in our MAUREEN programme over the past two years.
ABOUT
MAUREEN was originally initiated in 2022 as part of the London Health and Care Partnership, and that first year pilot led to three further years of funding through Propel from May 2023.
In its first pilot year MAUREEN held community knowledge generation events with five (overlapping) groups in London (Black GBMSM; Asian GBMSM; Brazilian GBMSM; Latino GBMSM; and Eastern European GBMSM). Those groups went on to co-produce award-winning podcasts, harm reduction multilingual guides, blogs, events and support networks.
As MAUREEN developed, and building on the learning from the pilot year, we came to understand that one of the most important aspects of the programme was the opportunity to come together - to build community, make friendships, and to find kinship. And so, in the second iteration of MAUREEN, 150 events each year are organised, facilitated and hosted.
From May 2023, knowledge generation events have been held with older Black GBMSM; Black queer men; Cypriot queer men; Eastern European gay men; and trans masc folks.
In that same year we've curated events from monologues and movement workshops; yoga and storytelling; and hiking and art curation.
WHAT’S NEXT
In its 2023-26 phase MAUREEN will build 5 inter-linked networks to generate community-knowledge to inform co-production and events that improve health, build stronger communities equipped to challenge inequalities, reduce isolation, and strengthen London-wide health and inequality policy and practice.
MAUREEN will strive to achieve those aims in 4 ways:
in each year, recruit five groups of queer men (we include trans men and non-binary assigned male at birth) to form the hubs of each network. These men will be recruited to the networks both via existing networks and via broader recruitment, including social media.
with these men, undertake knowledge generation activity that identifies the (health) needs of them and their peers, and to publish the findings of that activity;
undertake co-production activity within and across these five networks that address some of the (health) needs (identified in the knowledge generation activity) by development of community resources. These are distributed and disseminated via the men’s own networks.
through the network hubs, to co-create 150 peer events (in each year) that provide space to build the networks, to engage with peers, and for peer-based (health) interactions to take place. Events will be identified and prioritised via knowledge generation activity and include sexual-health workshops, walking groups, language-building events, literacy events.
GET INVOLVED
Got questions, ideas, or want to know more about the MAUREEN programme? Our coordinators are here to help.
GET IN TOUCH
Looking for events curated especially for queer migrants and queer people of colour? We got you covered.