Culture & Community | Arts & Culture | New Haven Pride Center
Top: Vendors at last year's New Haven Pride celebration, held in the Ninth Square. Bottom: Operations Director Laura Boccadoro (right), with her wife Ashley Buhrer. Lucy Gellman File Photo.
After beginning the New Year on a reduced schedule, the New Haven Pride Center announced Monday afternoon that it plans to "cease operations and furlough staff" starting this Thursday, for a period that will last for at least 30 days. In an email and concurrent social media post, board members pointed to an outstanding $200,000-plus debt to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that dates back to 2022.
"We've gotten to the place where we don't have enough consistent funding to offset the fact that we have over $200,000 in debt, and the reality is that we need to end the false narrative that were not struggling," said Board Co-Chair Nick Bussett in a phone call Monday evening. "We have a lot of conversations going, and we think that the next 30 days are going to be crucial."
The New Haven Pride Center currently has five staff members, two of whom are full-time. They include Operations Director Laura Boccadoro, who started at the organization as an intern in 2019, and has helped grow it into an emergency food distribution site and programming hub over the next several years, including during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the last half decade, Boccadoro has been instrumental in planning New Haven's Pride Month celebrations, which normally take place in September
"I feel like a piece of my heart is gone," she said in a phone call Monday evening. "I think the statement [from the Board of Directors] says it all ... I have a lot of unhealed anger [from 2022] coming back up right now."
According to Bussett, the Center's financial instability reaches back to the fall of 2022, when the organization announced that it had lost its nonprofit status and voted to terminate its first paid executive director. In the months after, board and staff members worked feverishly to right the ship, with a round of staff furloughs that lasted for only a month. From February to September of 2023, Juancarlos Soto stepped in as acting director, a position that became permanent in the fall of that year.
It looked, for a while, like the organization was staying afloat, and even stable enough to do more than just tread water. The Center relaunched its annual youth conference, which it had started in 2022 after the LGBTQ+ youth services organization True Colors shut down abruptly. It grew programming and collaboration, maintained vital services like a clothing and hygiene closet and emergency food pantry, and moved offices to a more accessible space on Orange Street. In 2024, for the first time in its history, Soto secured a $30,000 line item in the city's general fund budget, which passed for a second time last year.
Then last year, Soto announced he would be stepping down to take better care of both himself and his family. In the months that followed that decision, the Center lost a significant contract with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), which Bussett said accounted for over $100,000 in the budget, and the ability to hire a staff member for case management work. Then in November, the Center announced a new executive director, only for that person to resign a week later.
According to the Center's most recent public tax filing, the organization's current budget hovers at just under $500,000 (in 2024, it was $$496,993), which had it operating at a slight deficit going into last year. Monday's announcement was the first time anyone on the board had publicly disclosed or acknowledged a debt to the IRS and named a specific number. Bussett said the figure is in fact greater that $200,000, due to compounding interest on the amount.
"Currently it's just not a sustainable model," he said, adding that he was moved by the kindness of staff members when he and Board Co-Chair Hope Chávez informed them of impending furloughs last week (even talking about it on the phone, he became emotional). "The reality is that we just can't continue to function like this. We've been in this place of 'Let's continue,' but there's only so much uphill battle you can take until you can figure out the right model forward."
That model may eventually reach back to the Center's roots as an all-volunteer organization, he acknowledged—but the board isn't there yet. Currently, addressing the debt and closing the financial gap is the priority. He and Chávez plan to reassess the situation in 30 days.
In the meantime, board members and staff are working to direct LGBTQ+ community members to other service-based organizations, particularly those that provide the same mission-aligned programming and emergency support services that the Center has become known for. They include longtime partners such as Anchor Health, Q+, and A Place to Nourish Your Health (formerly AIDS Project New Haven), as well as places like the United Way of Greater New Haven and 211.
In a phone call shortly after Monday's announcement, Mayor Justin Elicker said he was disheartened to hear about the Center's decision, particularly at a political moment in which LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the country. In a discussion with Bussett and Chávez last week, he said that he asked what the city could do to support the organization, and will continue to offer support where possible.
In the past year alone, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union have tracked hundreds of bills attacking LGBTQ+ rights, and particularly the rights of queer and trans youth, in state legislatures across the country. At the same time, the Trump Administration has continued a rollback on LGBTQ+ rights that has included everything from gender-affirming care for veterans and minors to stripping the Stonewall Monument of its history. In New Haven, community members have seen that chilling firsthand: Yale New Haven Health ended gender-affirming care in its Pediatric Gender Program last summer, leaving hundreds of youth in dysphoric limbo.
Earlier this month, Elicker said, he was proud to stand with the Center as he raised the Pride flag on the New Haven Green, in a symbol of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community that came as President Trump ordered the revoval of the Pride flag from the Stonewall Monument. New York City officials later re-raised a flag in defiance of the order.
"The Pride Center will exist in some form going forward," Elicker said.
A full copy of the statement, sent unsigned from New Haven Pride Center's Board of Directors, is below:
Dear friends and community members,
Today, the Board of Directors, announces that the New Haven Pride Center will cease normal operations beginning Thursday, February 26, 2026.
This difficult decision follows a lengthy and serious financial struggle that began in 2022 with the discovery of a significant outstanding tax liability of over a quarter million, the result of previous financial mismanagement and less than adequate oversight. Following changes to the board and staff leadership, we have worked diligently to stabilize operations, reduce the debt, and sustain programs and services for the New Haven LGBTQIA+ community.
The recent loss of expected grants and key annual funding brought the organization to a critical crossroads. The board sought guidance from funders and consultants to evaluate potential paths forward, including partnership and merger opportunities. We are currently exploring with long-time collaborators what it looks like to continue providing critical resources to our LGBTQIA+ community.
However, given the Center’s remaining IRS debt — now over $200,000 — and limited operating reserves, we cannot continue to make new expenditures. Without sustainable revenue, both contributed or earned in sight, the board has determined that we must cease operations and furlough staff. We recognize the profound impact of this decision on our dedicated staff, as well as on the vulnerable populations that we serve. During a time of heightened challenges for LGBTQIA+ people, the potential loss of community services and spaces is deeply felt. For many years, the Center has provided vital programs, services, social connection, and safe space for our community, and we all have much to be proud of.
We are fortunate to be part of a strong network of partner organizations, including Anchor Health, Q+, APNH, and others where people can receive critical, LGBTQIA-friendly services. Many of the Center’s support and social groups are volunteer-led, and we are working with volunteers and partners to support continuity wherever possible.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the community members, volunteers, donors, and partners who have supported the Pride Center over the years. Your belief in this work has sustained countless moments of connection, care, and belonging.
While this chapter is ending, the strength and resilience of New Haven’s LGBTQIA+ community endure. We remain hopeful that this community will continue to find joy, solidarity, and power in one another.
- The New Haven Pride Center Board of Directors