About the
Pride Center
Pride Center San Antonio was born with the purpose to promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and ally community in Bexar County.
Our goal: to establish a center for the local LGBTQ+ community as a clearinghouse that would work in alliance, rather than in competition, with existing programs and services within our community.
2009
In the summer of 2009, a small group of concerned citizens from the San Antonio area began a dialogue about creating a center to serve the local LGBT community. The group met frequently at the house of founding member Joseph Garrett to strategize and present ideas on moving forward. It became abundantly clear to the group that such a center should be established.
In February 2011, thirteen individuals from the San Antonio area formed a board. Eight of these founding board members had been involved in the project since its inception in 2009.
2011
2011
In September 2011, the Pride Center hosted a Leadership Summit for the purpose of seeking input from established community organizations. At the summit, several breakout sessions helped us to assess the needs and interests of the community. This input helped to determine the Pride Center’s direction.
In the spring of 2012, a group of Trinity University students led by sociology professor Amy Stone released the results of a Pride Center community survey designed to assess the needs of the LGBT community in San Antonio. The survey’s most important findings were that:
2012
- Nearly 63% of LGBTQ respondents have experienced discriminating or harassment
- Discrimination most commonly arises from strangers in public, peers at school, and family members
- Transgender individuals experience the greatest degree of discrimination
- Respondents were most interested in an LGBT community center that would provide arts, social, and cultural events and programming.
2012
In July 2012, Pride Center San Antonio became a Federal 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Texas.
In fall 2012, the Pride Center began accelerating awareness and fundraising efforts and formalizing programs and community activities in anticipation of garnering the support and donations necessary to open our doors to the public. News about the Pride Center has been featured on Texas Public Radio, QSanAntonio.com, and the San Antonio Current.
2012
2014
In June 2014, the Pride Center opened its doors at 147 E. Mistletoe Ave. Ste. 106. The small office was opened to serve as the administrative offices. The Center will still hold programming offsite, in partnership with other community groups, through online resources and by appointment in the office.
In November 2014, the board of the Pride Center San Antonio committed to undergo a strategic planning process. With just a handful of active board members at the time, the Pride Center expanded its reach in the community and added nine new board members over a multi-month planning period.
2014
2015
In 2015, The Center’s Board of Directors adopted the 2015 – 2020 strategic plan, outlining goals aimed at increasing programming, generating funding, and acquiring a permanent home.
In 2017 through strategic conversations, community meetings, and collaborative efforts of then-councilman Roberto Treviño, Methodist Healthcare, and Pride Center San Antonio that a lease was signed to occupy space at the Metropolitan Professional Building in the heart of San Antonio’s gayborhood
2017
2017
The opening of The Center’s drop-in space in 2017, allowed for the expansion of our peer-to-peer support groups, meeting and training space, and cyber center.
Under the leadership of the board chair and acting Executive Director, Robert Salcido, he and The Center acquired a 3-year fellowship with the Interdisciplinary Research Leaders (IRL) program led by the University of Minnesota and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This fellowship along with it’s grant funding laid the foundation for The Center’s continued growth by creating the Strengthening Colors of Pride (SCoP) Project in collaboration with Dr. Amy Stone at Trinity University, and the hiring of The Center’s first-ever paid staff member in 2018.
2018
2020
In the Summer of 2020, the SCoP team, led by Dr. Amy Stone and Robert Salcido, released the results of the 1800+ respondent survey, “State of Our Community: San Antonio LGBTQ+ 2020 Survey.” Some of the survey’s top findings were that:
- Nearly one third of LGBTQ+ southern Texans were refused healthcare service;
- Over a quarter of transgender and non-binary respondents make less than $ 10,000 a year;
- 64% of LGBTQ+ respondents who have experienced homelessness as a child or teenager were kicked out of their home because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The primary focus of The Center continues to be the primary one-stop-shop organization in south Texas to promote health, wellness, support, education, activities, and advocacy for the local LGBTQ+ community. Between 2020 - 2021, The Center began offering free case management services and has since added group therapy and individual and family counseling. To-date, The Center has 4 paid staff members, 6 interns, and many volunteers that work tirelessly to ensure that we are positioned to empower San Antonio and the surrounding area’s LGBTQ+ community.
Pride Center
History
Our
Mission
Pride Center San Antonio serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV communities by connecting them and their families to community resources and organizations related to health, wellness, support, education, activities, and advocacy.
Our
Vision
Pride Center San Antonio aims to be the premier resource center in South Texas for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.
The Center respects the diversity of its members while promoting the well-being of the overall community through advocacy, education, and outreach.
In order to achieve its vision, The Center will:
- Acquire and maintain adequate space to meet the needs of the community based on the mission of the organization.
- Be a comprehensive resource for the community based on the mission of the organization.
- Analyze the community’s needs on an ongoing basis and provide opportunities for members to share in the development, implementation and evaluation of educational, support, and other types of programs and services to meet those needs.
- Reach financial stability through cooperation with multiple funding sources in order to hire and support staff while maintaining programs and facilities.
- Facilitate outreach to and collaborate with the greater San Antonio community to participate in the education and development of the overall community as affirmed in the mission of the organization.
Core
Values
The Center operates by the following core values as a way of ensuring that top quality and support are provided to our membership and the community at large:
- Appreciate and Respect Diversity: Program for and support the diverse needs of our community and all it stands for while respecting members’ privacy and confidentiality in a safe environment.
- Be Community Centered: Develop and maintain communication channels and venues for our members to participate in the program development, implementation, and evaluation process as a way of ensuring their needs are met while maintaining a high level of member satisfaction.
- Cultivate and Maintain Community Relationships: Connect, communicate, and collaborate with existing community organizations already providing services to our community so as to not duplicate services, but support existing ones. The Pride Center will serve as a community link to refer members to existing programs and services as needed.
- Develop the Board: Provide the Board of Directors with professional development opportunities in a variety of areas to help them make more effective decisions.
- Educate and Empower: Provide members and the community at large with education, intervention, and support programs that encourage self-acceptance, nurturing, and understanding.
- Forecast for Financial Stability: Diversify our funding sources through community involvement and view fundraising as a direct responsibility of the Board of Directors.
Meet
the Team
Meet the dedicated team working hard to make sure that the Pride Center operates as an inclusive safe space for necessary resources.
This page last updated: 8 / 20 / 24.
