Reflection on the past year at Pride for Youth by Jill Estes

As the new year begins we like to look back at the past year and see our good times and accomplishments. 2010 was a huge year for Pride for Youth. We were packed full of events and awards alongside the wide array of services that we always provide for LGBT youth here on Long Island. We had a lot of good times, had many triumphs and saw history change before our eyes. Any non-profit agency has to do their full part in fundraising. The same is true here at Pride for Youth. This year we were very fortunate to build solid partnerships to help us with this funding effort. May 1st we partnered up with the Long Island Pride Chorus for fundraiser at Kelli’s Bar and Grille in Bellmore, a huge supporter of Pride for Youth. Then in October we were back at Kelli’s with the amazing support of two very talented musicians, Marcy Lang and A. J. Shanti who entranced the crowd with their music helping raise over $1500. Another great partnership built this year was with the Bellmore Production of Rent, who came in to speak to our youth at Coffeehouse and raised over $1000 for the agency while their play was running. A former participant put up a production of his own play, Sticky Tags and Black Sharpies to benefit Pride for Youth. Pride for Youth is very grateful to have received the Paul Rapoport grant of $50,000, the largest contribution to date. We were also very grateful to have received a 5 year grant from The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, which has given us the opportunity to extend our services even further into the community. All of this funding is essential for the services we provide in our community. We hit the road a lot this year as well. On March 15th we took our dedicated group of peer educators up to Albany for the annual youth leadership conference sponsored by Family Planning Advocates (FPA) of New York State. In June over 100 kids joined us marching in the annual Long Island Pride Parade. Following that parade there were performances on stage in the park where a few of our talented kids had the opportunity to perform. In July we rounded up 16 of our youth for our annual camping trip in the Boston/Cape Cod area. Very strong friendships were built and a lot of fun was had by all. There were a few awards won as well. Pride for Youth won the Auntie M’s Helping Hands Community service award for Outstanding GLBT organization. Pride for Youth also won Best Organization at the Annual Outlook Awards. We were also recognized by the Empire State Pride Agenda for leading the way to safer schools for LGBT youth vis-à-vis advocacy for New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act. Many more exciting things happened this year at Pride for Youth. Pride for Youth hosted our very first Family Night, giving the families of our participants the opportunity to get to know the agency a little better. Our participant, Britney, produced a showing of the hit play Dog Sees God right here at Coffeehouse. Also we were happy to hire a new round of Program Leaders who have been working hard to educate their peers on deep issues that need attention. On behalf of all of us here at Pride for Youth we would like to thank every person and organization that helped us to strive in the community. Without the help we would not be able to provide the wide array of services that make us an important support for the LGBT community on Long Island.