Artwork (left to right): Breonna Taylor – @shirien.creates; Ahmaud Arbery – @shirien.creates; Nina Pop – @colorofchange; George Floyd – @shirien.creates; Tony McDade – @vientoxsol Tomorrow is the first day of Pride month and today I’m holding, honoring, and celebrating the truth that what we commemorate every June was an uprising—days of passionate resistance to the brutal violence of the police against
Today, I’m so excited to announce some much-needed good news: we’ve awarded our 2020 Pride Foundation Scholarships! This year, we are awarding $546,550 to 127 LGBTQ+ and allied student leaders—leaders whose stories, ambition, and resilience unequivocally show that our community is changing the world. But don’t take my word for it. Hear it from a
Perhaps like you, I have been spending my days and nights focused on the current moment—responding, reacting, holding, breathing all the horrors we are witness to. But I am fighting the tendency to direct my attention only on the trees in front of me and instead continually bring the forest into focus too. When I
This is not our community’s first health crisis. What we learned during the AIDS crisis—and have proven time and time again ever since—is that when our communities need us, we show up to support one another even when no one else will. This value and practice is at the heart of Pride Foundation’s Crisis
After a long hiatus from volunteering and realizing that I missed the joy of community service, I decided to volunteer with the Pride Foundation as a scholarship reviewer for 2020. This realization happened during a dinner conversation over homemade lasagna and sparkling wine where I was talking to Chance Wilcox, the Alaska Regional Officer for
In a time where we crave human connection and sink deeper into quarantine, some organizations have been able to bring people together in spectacular ways. Story Works, a Pride Foundation Community Grant recipient in Alaska, continuously works to bring youth together, build human connections, and unleash the storyteller in everyone. More than ever, connection is
Ham. Rice. Oil. Sugar. Laundry soap. These are some of the groceries I shopped for and delivered this week to a family of five, whose parents had both recently lost their jobs due to layoffs. The mutual aid group I volunteer with connected us because Gloria and her family live just five minutes away from
In 2008, just weeks after relocating to Portland from the Midwest, I was hired into my dream job at the time as co-director of a nonprofit feminist community center. But less than three months into my new role, a number of factors coalesced at once—on top of the devastating impact of the 2008 recession—and it
Growing up and living with Type 1 Diabetes, I have felt my resilience and resolve tested more times than I care to remember. However, one of the greatest moments of fear I have felt as a person living with an immunocompromised condition, was the moment I learned of the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in
Alaskans have always been resilient. Be it dangerously inhospitable weather, geographic isolation, and most recently, the 2018 earthquake—we have always overcome adversities sent our way by banding together. As a community, we have stayed strong. As a community, we have rebuilt and repaired. As a community, we have answered the call to help those in