The Kankakee Area LGBTQ Network formed in 2018 when a handful of community leaders who had been passionately providing services for LGBTQ folks in their individual sectors, met over coffee and identified a need for something bigger. Since that meeting a private space was created for folks to connect and share resources. We organized our first pride picnic in 2019. Since then, the Network has continued to grow in number and in resources provided. Today, the Network in addition to a literal network of LGBTQ folks across the Kankakee area connecting for support and sharing resources, but we also host monthly meet ups, provide community training, advocacy in gaps in our community, and we continue to evolve. We formed our nonprofit in Summer of 2023 and formed our board of directors with a mission to provide a space in Kankakee County that wasn’t here when we grew up here.
President – Matt Hedding-Hess (he/him) Kankakee, IL
Vice President – Jen Corke-Kafer (she/her) Bourbonnais, IL
Secretary – Becca Maree (she/they) Kankakee, IL
Treasurer – Shari Crittenden (she/her) Kankakee, IL
Liam Smietanski (he/they) Kankakee, IL
Aubrey Laskowski (she/her) Kankakee, IL
Ari Hayden (she/her) Bradley, IL
Antonia Guajardo (she/her)
Emily Kehoe (she/they) Kankakee, IL
Jordan Chapman (he/him) St. Anne, IL
Onyx Greene (they/them) Watseka, IL
