As the pandemic spread this year, LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness faced compounding challenges finding shelter, safety, and belonging. In Alaska, the volunteer collective Choosing Our Roots responded immediately by expanding their efforts to find safe and supportive places for LGBTQ+ youth to live, and creating online spaces of connection that are especially critical for youth in rural communities. This year, Pride Foundation’s
“When I’m going through my classes and I’m having a particularly hard time getting through it, I like to remind myself that, in the end, when I graduate, I get to be one of those people that helps other people understand that they’re beautiful and they’re valid and they matter.” Maxwell Storm Blue is
Every year, people across the Northwest create fundraisers for Pride Foundation that inspire their communities to invest in equity and justice. Early in 2020, we were delighted to see donations from every corner of the country roll in on behalf of Quince Mountain under the punny hashtag #Igivearod. That’s when Quince and his team of
No one exemplifies the revolutionary values of Pride Foundation quite like Brian M. Day, the creator of our very first scholarship fund in 1993. An activist, computer engineer, and business owner—Brian shaped the local Seattle movement for LGBTQ+ and racial justice, and created space for other Black gay men in the Northwest to lead in
“I think what’s really powerful is my own self determination to be able to decide how I identify, and model that for my child.” -Lourdez Velasco, featured in 2019 TRANSform Washington public education video Launched in 2016 in the face of discriminatory anti-trans legislation, Pride Foundation’s TRANSform Washington program celebrates the dignity, diversity, and humanity
Over the past 35 years, we’ve come a long way in our work to create a world where all LGBTQ+ people can live safely and openly as our whole selves in all the places we call home. All the progress we have seen, and all that we will see in the future, is only possible
One of our newest grantees, Inclusive Idaho, was created in the late spring of 2020 by a group of BIPOC Idahoans who believed that a better Idaho was possible—and we were ready to invest right away in their work to make that vision a reality. Started as a vigil for George Floyd and other Black
In the 1980’s, few resources existed for people living with HIV/AIDS—and even fewer for people of color. In this climate of devastation and scarcity, People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) was created in 1987. Just two years after their founding, they received a Pride Foundation grant and became one of our earliest grantees. Since
“Working with metal has this kind of draw for me. You take this rock out of earth, apply a great amount of heat to it and end up with this thing that’s…almost otherworldly.” Bri Mango, a 2020 Pride Foundation Scholar, studies Welding Technology and Fine Art at Montana State University, and is working to blaze
In the fall of 1998, Nathan Harris began his undergraduate education at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. He also came out as gay. His time at CWU was challenging, and motivated him to apply for a Pride Foundation Scholarship. Nathan’s daily experiences of threats and hostility on campus and in his rural community only fueled