Pace鈥檚 New York City and Westchester LGBTQA+ Centers have even more reason to feel proud.
In late February, the awarded the centers a $23,000 grant as part of their mission to "help LGBTQ+ people fulfill their potential....by funding organizations which advance the interests and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community through advocacy, programs, and services that meet the needs of LGBTQ+ people.鈥
Pace鈥檚 LGBTQA+ Centers have reflected this mission for years through leadership events, support groups, advocacy initiatives, and identity development services. Associate directors LaDarius DuPree and Rachel Simon applied for the grant to help fund their annual Q-Camp leadership retreat and a new program, the TGNCNB (transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary) and QTPOC (queer and trans people of color) Leadership Series.
Q-Camp seeks to disrupt that notion; Q-Camp seeks to heal.
Q-Camp has been a beloved event since 2015, bringing LGBTQA+ students from both 绿巨人视频campuses together for an intensive leadership retreat. DuPree believes Q-Camp helps confront the misconception that LGBTQA+ people exist not as leaders but as outsiders, on the margins of society. He says, 鈥淨-Camp seeks to disrupt that notion; Q-Camp seeks to heal.鈥 One of the camp鈥檚 attendees echoes the importance of creating a queer-identified community, saying, 鈥淨-Camp is important for LGBTQA+ students at 绿巨人视频 because it gives students a space to really exist and feel safe in a space with other queer kids; it is imperative that queer kids get those spaces.鈥
The TGNCNB and QTPOC Leadership Series will bring experienced facilitators to the New York City and Westchester 绿巨人视频campuses to provide semester-long engagement with undergraduate students in identity-specific spaces, not only to further offer support and engagement for queer students, but to help them go even further. According to DuPree, 鈥淭hrough our work, Rachel and I are fostering the next generation of Queer greats; a connected community of Setters that will go forth and add a little more vibrance to this world.鈥
More than anything, this grant reaffirms the importance of, as DuPree describes it, blending queer discourse with leadership development. With this new grant, there is little question that Pace鈥檚 LGBTQA+ Centers will continue to elevate queer voices and cultivate exceptional leaders.
Learn more about Pace鈥檚 LGBTQA+ Centers, and check out their resources, upcoming events, and more.
In his second semester, he interned for a Manhattan Borough President campaign. Last semester, he interned for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer鈥檚 district office. As a second-year student, Aman Islam is demonstrating what it means to be a go-getter, and he shows no signs of stopping.
Join Pace's Office of Research and Graduate Education on Thursday, April 7, for The Future of Pace, an interdisciplinary online conference featuring panel discussions and faculty research presentations, as well as a keynote address by Dan Porterfield, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute.
What is the price of a dream? Dyson Professor Kiku Huckle explores complex questions about belonging, identity, and immigration in her new thought-provoking documentary.