OUR MISSION
Clock, Inc is dedicated to creating a safe and supportive community center, offering vital resources, mental health programs, empowerment, and advocacy for the LGBT+ community to thrive without fear of discrimination.
OUR STORY
While our Executive Director, Chase Norris, was completing his Master’s in Counselor Education, he started an LGBT+ Youth group at his internship site. As time went on, Chase’s LGBT+ youth group was becoming more populated. Each week he worked with these young adults who were struggling with so much, but yet, so brave. As graduation was getting closer and Chase’s time with these kids was coming to end, he could not fathom the idea of “abandoning” them. In one of their remaining groups he asked the kids, “If you could have any resource available to you, what would you want?” In unison, they replied, “A safe place for us to go.”
At that next group meeting, Chase told the kids that he would try to open an LGBT+ Community Center and they spent the entire group talking about resources they would want offered at their center. Every idea, plan, event was suggested by one of these group kids. Chase graduated with his Master’s in December 2018, he moved his weekly group to a friend’s mental health private practice, which was now a free support group. This allowed him to keep his group going until he was able to provide these kids with a community center of their own.
December 26, 2018: Clock, Inc was officially Founded in the State of Illinois.
March 8, 2019: Chase and the Board of Directors opened the doors to Clock, Inc: LGBT+ Community Center in the Quad Cities.
May 9, 2019: Clock, Inc became an official 501c3 nonprofit organization.
June 10, 2019: Clock, Inc held our official Grand Opening Ceremony!
February 12, 2021: Clock, Inc moved into our current 4700 square foot facility in Rock Valley Plaza.
April 28th, 2022: Clock, Inc cuts the ribbon on the new facility at our Grand Re-Opening Ceremony!
OUR IMPACT
Laurel Williams / Professional Faculty/Clinical Supervisor
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Since the 2022 academic year, Augustana College has partnered with Clock, Inc. to provide gender-affirming voice and communication services to the Quad Cities community. The weekly group averages 4-6 participants per semester, allowing 2-3 Augustana students to gain professional and clinical experience working with a diverse population on voice and communication objectives. Aside from the direct impact on clients' well-being and students' educational experiences, this partnership has facilitated a strong relationship between these two organizations and has encouraged more trans and gender-diverse members of the Quad Cities Community to pursue voice services individually. Each semester, we see approximately 8-12 individuals for gender-affirming voice work in our campus clinic due to the partnership with Clock, Inc. This ensures more professional experience for our graduate students, which means that we will be graduating classes of culturally and clinically competent practitioners, as almost all of our students have had experience and exposure to this type of treatment during their time at Augustana. The partnership with Clock, Inc. also provides professional education opportunities. Clock's executive director has presented to every cohort of students each semester to ensure that our students learn culturally sensitive information for working with members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Local LGBT+ Youth
I am a local LGBT+ youth and want to share with you how Clock has positively impacted my life.
I am 18 years old and about to graduate high school in a couple of weeks. I am transgender MTF and bisexual. Without Clock, my life would be deeply depressing and unfathomably worse. Before I started coming to Clock, I was an anxious mess, my grades were slipping incredibly fast and quickly failing and had 3 friends in total. I did not have a support system, I couldn’t talk to my family because I was afraid I’d be judged. Depression and anxiety increased as I struggled with eye contact and I am unable to read social cues. Essentially, everything sucked.
Then, I began going to Clock in 2021. I was profoundly anxious and struggled to talk to anyone despite that I managed to become friends with people. Clock has allowed me to meet other queer youth who helped me learn to be more social. I have been given the opportunity to present as myself gain confidence and become more open with my family.
Now, I am an honors student, a part of the National Honors Society, and earned the seal of biliteracy for Spanish. My friends and the people from Clock have helped me a lot with self-confidence, being more self-assured, and having much better grades. Because of Clock, I am genuinely happy. In the vaguest possible terms, I am not 100% sure I would be here without Clock and their support and love and help.
