Culture & Community | LGBTQ | Arts & Culture | New Haven Pride Center | Ninth Square
Top: Chris Freimuth at an open house on May 27. New Haven Independent File Photo. Bottom: Look at these gorgeous humans! Jennifer (JHD) Heikkila Diaz and Kirill Staklo at the same open house. Lucy Gellman File Photos.
When the New Haven Pride Center (NHPC) closed its doors earlier this year, staff and board members didn't know if or how they would serve New Haven's vibrant LGBTQ+ community going forward. Almost exactly six months later, they have an answer, a working budget, and a date on which they will begin to welcome people back.
That news came from the Center in an email and Friday morning, as board members announced that the organization's 50 Orange St. building will reopen to the public with limited hours on July 27. To make that possible, the board has appointed Chris Freimuth as acting director of external affairs and Jenny Heikkila Díaz (JHD) as acting director of programming and operations.
Both positions run through January 31 of next year, by which point the board is hoping to have a full-time, permanent executive director in place. The co-director model has been made possible, in part, by an anonymous donor who stepped forward to cover five years of rent for the 50 Orange St. building, or roughly $300,000.
Freimuth is a horticulturalist and landscape designer and recent graduate of the Yale Divinity School who sat briefly on the Center's board from March to July, and helped the organization run an emergency fundraising campaign called "Project Phoenix" earlier this year. As acting director of external affairs, he will "lead fundraising, communications, marketing, government relations, and community partnerships" with Díaz, according to Friday's email.
Díaz, who is already known and beloved in many of New Haven's educational, literary and nonprofit circles, has served for several years as project coordinator at the youth poetry incubator The Word. She has also held held advisory roles on the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies, Fund for Teachers, Anti-Racist Teaching & Learning Collective, and the UConn Asian and Asian American Studies Institute. Díaz is also a founding member of aapiNHV and an active organizer with the New Haven Immigrants Coalition.
"It's an absolute dream to reopen," Freimuth said in a phone call Friday morning, shortly after the email had gone out to community members and supporters of the Center. "To feel the energy of the community behind us and around us is really phenomenal."
"It's exciting. It's definitely a lot of responsibility too," Díaz said in a phone call Friday morning. Looking ahead, "I definitely want to make sure that we're on good financial footing and able to be responsive to the people that are part of our community."
Amara Everlasting, who leads the Decolonial Sex Worker Justice Empowerment Project, at a press conference celebrating the Pride Center's reopening in June. Lucy Gellman File Photo.
What that will look like, in the coming weeks and months, is a slow reopening that Freimuth plans to expand by the end of the summer. Starting July 27, the Center will have limited hours and a focus on its most essential services, including its emergency clothing and hygiene closets (the organization is especially in need of shoes and binders, Freimuth said).
The food pantry will not reopen immediately: Freimuth has to reestablish a partnership with Connecticut Foodshare before that can happen.
Meanwhile, the Center will offer limited programming options, with the intention of gradually rebuilding its once-robust schedule. Freimuth said he plans to bring the Center back to full-time hours by the end of the summer. He added that, thanks to a large furniture donation from Yale University, there are now more spaces to simply "come hang out" in the building.
"I'm a big proponent of the power of hanging out," he said, noting how the simple act of gathering can combat social isolation, fear, and loneliness.
Freimuth added that "we need to have conversations with" several of the five staff members who the board furloughed in February, adding that some received severance packages. He declined to comment specifically on whether any of them would be returning in the near future. Former Operations Director Laura Boccadoro, who was the longest-serving staff member at the Center and the backbone of its Pride celebrations, has announced publicly that she will not be returning and is now working for A Place to Nourish Your Health (APNH).
Board Co-Chair Nick Bussett, who has helped steer the Center through several years of financial uncertainty and leadership transitions, said that he is excited for the new dual leadership model, and extremely grateful to the donor who has come forward to cover five years of rent. With those dollars accounted for over the next five years, the board will have more money for salaries and programming.
"I'm really excited for this model and I think it's going to serve the community in the best way possible," he said. He added that with the completion of "Project Phoenix," the Center has been able to pay off a debt of over $200,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and is waiting to hear about and address any associated fees.
The Center's board currently includes Co-Directors Bussett and Hope Chávez, treasurer Chloe Lasky, and new members John Stachniewicz and Ryan Sutherland. Bussett and Freimuth said that they hope to expand that number in the coming months.
Read the full text of Friday's email here and read more of our coverage of the Pride Center, including its successful $500,000 "Project Phoenix" fundraising campaign, here.