Toby Sells
Molly Quinn, OUTMemphis executive director (center left), and Ashley Coffield, PPTNM president (center right), speak during a news conference in front of OUTMemphis’ new administrative office building.
OUTMemphis will open a new adminstrative office building and donation center at I-240 and Summer soon, thanks to a donation from Planned Parenthood of Tennessee & North Mississippi (PPTNM).
Leaders from the two organizations announced the move Thursday at the building close to the Summer Quartet Drive In theater and the PPTNM health center. The building was a call center for PPTNM, but the organization moved that function into its Poplar headquarters.
OUTMemphis
OUTMemphis’ new adminstrative office building.
Molly Quinn, OUTMemphis executive director, said the new 4,500-square-foot facility will raise the regional platform for its work and increase the “capacity to serve the Mid-Southerners who need us the most.”
It will be home to all administrative office space. That move will open more space at the organization’s Cooper-Young facility for programming and expanded health services. The new facility will also be a donation drop-off and distribution venue for clothes, furniture, and hygiene supplies for LGBTQ+ people under age 24.
OUTMemphis
OUTMemphis’ Cooper-Young community center.
“[PPTNM and OUTMemphis] work together on a simple principle that unites us that all bodies and minds are good, righteous, and deserving of health, pleasure, safety, and joy,” Quinn said. “This building and the growth it represents are truly unparalleled contribution to the assets of Memphis and the community we serve.”
Ashley Coffield, PPTNM president, said regardless of where OUTMemphis would have expanded, “Their strength helps us and vice versa.” She said OUTMemphis has stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” with PPTNM during attacks on the organization over the years, “and we stand with them as well.”
Toby Sells
Molly Quinn, OUTMemphis executive director (left), and Ashley Coffield, PPTNM president (right), speak during a news conference in front of OUTMemphis’ new administrative office building.
“Planned Parenthood’s doors are open to all everyone regardless of gender expression, gender identity, or gender orientation,” Coffield said. “We believe all deserve high-quality and affordable health care and good information about sexuality and sexual health, no matter who they are or where they live.
“That’s why we work in partnership with the LGBTQ+ community and expand their access to health care.”
Quinn said construction of OUTMemphis’ youth emergency center and overnight shelter, called The Metamorphosis Project, begins Friday morning. She said she expects the facility to be up and running by January 2020.
OUTMemphis
OUTMemphis’ proposed youth emergency services and overnight shelter building.
