On Thursday, January 12th, we went to the Pride Center of Staten Island. This is the only community center in Staten Island that is completely for the LGBTQ community and allies. This center is a really important place to many people on Staten Island. It is really important that kids and teens of the LGBTQ community feel accepted and welcomed. Something that is really cool about this organization is that they won’t tell parents if the kids don’t want them to. So if I a kid or teen is not out at home, or they are not accepted, they can come to the center and no one has to know they are there. You don’t have to sign up, so if a parent calls asking if someone knows where there kid is, they don’t have to tell anyone if the kid wants to stay less open with their families. This can help people feel comfortable knowing that it is an open space, no they don’t have worry about anyone knowing about them. When we got there, we met with Elysa Fein-Cunningham, the program director. We asked her various questions about the programs at the center, and her views on some topics in the media today. The Pride Center has a lot of programs for youth, and adults. Just to name a few…
- Video game nights for youth
- Yoga programs for youth and adults
- Grrrl Power: a female and non-gender conforming youth empowerment group
- Annual youth prom
- HIV prevention programs
- Monthky HIV education programs
- Monthly bowling sessions for teens and adults
- Year-round free counseling services
All of their programs are really inclusivd, and most of them are open to allies aswell.
We asked her about her views on President Trump. She said that she was scared, but she couldn’t let that bring her down. She said this was an oppertunity to rise up as a community and take actions. We asked her what the youth was doing about the issue. She said they started having more frequent discussions about it, but if it gets too personal, and people feel uncomfortable, they will stop. She said that the kids were really starting to take action aswell. They recently in one of their youth programs wrote letters to the mayor, and other government officials. They wrote letters in general about LGBTQ issues, and also those concerning Trump. After that question, we asked what kids could do to change or make an impact. She said we could write, make phone calls, email, make art, or anything to make an impact. She said that someone else could answer the question better. She brought in Lisa Sloan, the youth manager. She further explained some of the programs, and she shared her views on some topics we asked Elysa about. The interviews were really great, and we learned so much about the organization, and how fantastic it is. Elysa then gave us a tour of their space. One really cool part of their office is they have a library full of books either about LGBTQ characters or people, or written by LGBTQ authors.
Everyone in the whole place seemed really nice, and they offered us to stay for the youth drop in program, but unfortunately we were scheduled to leave when it started. It was overall a really great experience talking to adults we didn’t know beforehand about what they do in the LGBTQ community.
