The New Haven Pride Center announced in an email press release Monday that they have raised enough money to reopen in May. See below for the full announcement, and click here, here, and here for previous articles about their closure in February. Dear Friends of the New Haven Pride Center, O n March 17th, we launched Project Phoenix: a $500,000 campaign to restore and reimagine the New Haven Pride Center. Exactly one month later, on April 15th, we reached our goal! Thirty years ago, the Center’s founders recognized the need for a home in New Haven for the LGBTQI+ community. You ensured that it will have thirty more. Because of forty-three courageous community members and institutional funders, we can finally say: the New Haven Pride Center is coming back!  Now we must do the joyful and diligent work of putting our Project Phoenix strategy into place. This includes a soft re-opening in May so staff can get everything back in order, followed by an official re-opening to the public in June – just in time to celebrate our 30th anniversary and Pride Month! Re-opening the Center wouldn’t be possible without the extraordinary generosity and conviction of our many partners. Namely, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the New Alliance Foundation, the City of New Haven, and Representative Rosa DeLauro’s office. And to the community leaders who gave us counsel, stepped up to support our neighbors during the pause, and helped us keep the faith: thank you. You know who you are, and so do we. To our dedicated staff: this is a testament to your exceptionalism. You’ve done the work to build relationships, feed our neighbors, help young people find themselves, and so much more. You made this a place that people want to save! Your steadfastness has meant everything to us, and to this community. ——— So what’s next? We are not simply returning to what we were. You put your trust in us, and we intend to honor that. Our first order of business is to re-open the Center with interim executive leadership, pay off the IRS debt in full, and begin the process of finding our next permanent Executive Director. With new leadership and vision in place, we will begin a thorough strategic planning process to rebuild a more sustainable New Haven Pride Center that will be here another thirty years and beyond. Project Phoenix was funded by this community. Now we need this community to help run it. We’re looking for people to join our board, serve on our transition committee (a focused, six-month commitment to help us rebuild the right way), and volunteer at the Center. If you have skills, bandwidth, and a stake in this place, we want to work with you! We are also delighted to announce that we will once again participate in The Great Give (May 6-7). This event provides an opportunity for us to reconnect with you, our neighbors, and build a stronger, more vibrant future together for the queer community in Greater New Haven. You’ll be hearing from us in the coming days about opportunities to give! In the meantime: keep telling this story. To your friends, your networks, anyone who will listen. The momentum that got us here doesn’t stop with this good news. It starts now.  If you’re interested in joining the board, transition committee, or our amazing team of volunteers, please reach out to us at [email protected]. With profound gratitude, New Haven Pride Center Board of Directors,  Hope Chávez, Nick Bussett, Chloe Lasky, and Christopher Freimuth The post Pride Center To Reopen appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less