Hudson Pride Out Loud

After weeks of auditions, practices, and rehearsals, over 60 guests attended YouthConnect’s 2nd annual Jersey City Pride event - the “GLAMOROUS” Youth Fashion and Talent Show.  This year’s event focused on raising self esteem and promoting individuality amongst our LGBTQ youth.  Fifteen youth from all over Hudson County joined their talents and unique fashion sense together and put on a funny and very entertaining show for all in the house.

It was incredible seeing the youth put this event together.  I had an amazing time taking pictures and seeing the audience’s reactions to the youth’s spirited display of the latest urban fashion.

I was touched by their sincere poetry, moved by their lively dancing and inspired by their soulful singing.  It was wonderful to see all the familiar and unfamiliarfaces that came out to support our youth.  Everyone who participated in the show had a lot of fun and got the opportunity to experience full self-expression in a space where they felt comfortable and safe. If you weren’t there, don’t worry - pictures will be posted on the website soon, and we can’t wait to share them!

Once the event was over, I lied awake that night thinking of all the future possibilities that our hard work with the youth can have. And it is because of the community support and involvement in the YouthConnect program, which has been a ground-breaking and exemplary program for almost 7 years, that our youth will grow up as part of a larger community and with pride.  I envisioned our client room at the community center filled with youth waiting for their spotlight!

Well, I am exhausted by two days of painting with over 40 volunteers coming out to show their support this weekend, but I had to check in and share how it went. It was fun, it was tiring, and it was a job “well done” for all of us. And when a volunteer was on his way out today and I said “Thanks for coming, it was so much help,” he replied, “Of course, I mean, it is for all of us.”

That sums up why I don’t mind the paint in my hair, blisters on my hands, and sometimes gray-hair inducing moments.

So thank you all, we are doing this for all of us. See you next week!

Hello everyone,

Cleaning day last Saturday (7/21) was a great sucess! SO MANY people turned out I was overwhelmed. You all know how it is…we had twice as many people as had confirmed to be there! I had to stop myself from choking up when giving a thank you toast to everyone during lunch break.

It was just AMAZING that everyone who helped out truly reflected the diversity of our community: young, not-so-young, people of every race/ethnicity, gays, lesbians, trans persons, those living with HIV. Also, my nephews came to help out again (thanks Billly and Danny) as well as our board members and members of JCLGO and many of the people who participate in HPC’s programs!

Everyone was chattering all day about how much they love the new building with its “homey” charm as the building is an old house with so much original detail still in place! (Just wait, you’ll see!) We all spent time excitedly chattering and envisioning events and meetings that will be bringing the place to life soon enough!

Also a big shout out to Abbey’s Bar and Grill for the great food (and for donating half of it!). Please support them for supporting us, they are on Monmouth St. in Downtown JC.

We got so much done! The back parking lot all cleaned up as well as the front yard with a new fence installed, the inside all windexed to oblivion and we got several nasty stains out of the carpeting (big relief! we can’t afford new carpet!). Several neighbors on the block stopped by to say how great the property is beginning to look!

We hear that more of you will be showing up to paint! I hope so, we have 11 rooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 hallways and a kitchenette to paint! So bring a friend!

Painting Days will be Sat/Sun, Aug 4-5th and the following weekend we will begin moving into the building. So save up your strength for Sat/Sun Aug 11-12. (Those beautiful wood desks that NJCU donated to us are damn heavy!). We are trying to get most of the big work done before we all get overwhelmed with the numerous events planned by JCLGO for Jersey City Pride Week (Aug 20-25). We will be officially in our new home as of Sept. 1st!

Thanks again to everyone!

See you the weekend of Aug 11-12!

David, Chair, HPC Board of Trustees

This will be short, as the amount of work being done next door is constantly pulling all of us here in the office in and out, which is fantastic & tiring at the same time!

This past Saturday was our first “work day” for the new building. The way we set up our volunteer work days was to be cleaning, followed by a weekend of painting, followed by a moving day. Of course, I had a number of people volunteer to paint and to move, but cleaning wasn’t the most popular event, and it was a gorgeous weekend in which people had many other plans!

So you can imagine that I was literally floored when I saw 35 volunteers running in and out all day, helping out on our cleaning teams, and really making the work fun, fast, and feel like we are all working together to build something here. Even though I’ve known how much the community is involved with and supports this project through the emails, phone calls, visits, donations, and more that have come out of it, I was amazed at the dedication all of these people, some long time allies of the organization, and others have never even heard of us except that we were trying to put this project together.

So thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the 35 people who helped out on Saturday.

We have photos which we will be posting on our website soon, and I can’t wait to show people the dedicated, helpful, smiling folks who came out and showed that this project is truly a community project.

Everyone in the community is a part of this process, and the work that we are doing, is both for you and because of you. Thank you for demonstrating that so clearly, and I can’t wait to see everyone (and more!) for our next work days.

Hot on the heels of half a dozen meetings today, I just had to check in and share some exciting things that are coming once we move. So many details have yet to be worked out, but it’s time to pay attention!

In September our weekly group for all LGBT people over the age of 50 will begin, with a reception in November to celebrate elder LGBT populations. Look for more details next month.

In November, we will host the first annual LGBT health fair for all providers to come together and show the community what services are out there for them. Look for more details on that event in September.

And with our 50+ people living with HIV / AIDS group in full swing for two weeks now, the programming dedicated to supporting and empowering our communities is growing at a pace that simply astonishes me.

Looking forward to more major announcements in the coming months (as if those weren’t enough) and to seeing you at our volunteer work days coming up soon!

I’m too excited to keep it all amongst our own staff, so that’s why you, our loyal readers, get a sneak preview of the new house Directory. Don’t ask me why, but visualizing this Directory hanging on the wall when you walk in keeps me up at night - I am that excited!

If you really want to be a part of the process and watch it all take shape, be sure to check out our upcoming volunteer party work days, as well as the “Save the Dates” for our Open House / Grand Opening events!

Directory (*tentative - also be aware that there are a few surprises to come, that have to be kept secret until we get closer to our Grand Opening events):

Sub-Level - Coming Soon*

Floor 1 -
101 - Client Intake Office
102 - Gallery*
104A - Reception Area
104B - Administration

Floor 2 -
201 - Executive Director’s Office
202 - Lounge*
203 - Staff Offices
204 - Conference Room
205 - Kitchenette

Floor 3 -
301 - *
302 - Counseling Office
303 - *
304 - Library*

Hi everyone,

I’m so excited I can hardly focus on anything but this! This is such a fantastic thing to happen for Hudson Pride Connections and the entire LGBT community in New Jersey. I am in awe of being part of it and humbled by it. So often I have turned to Guido, HPC’s stellar Executive Director, and said “are we really doing this? do we really WANT to do this?” Of course the answer was “YES” but fear of failure is always present.

But our “fear of commitment” was lessend by the good faith and support from our friends and from other LGBT community groups throughout Hudson County, all of New Jersey and New York City! It feels wonderful to have so many people rooting for us.  We could not do this alone and with the support of “our family,” Hudson Pride Connections will thrive and flourish in our new home.

Many people have asked us what we plan to do when we move. Well first off we will concentrate on expanding our existing programs for LGBT youth, transgender persons and people living with HIV. How Hudson Pride Connections grows beyond that is really up to the community. Our Board has always felt that the community will tell us what it needs; it is not up to us to decide what kind of programming and services are needed.

For example, a few years ago a handful of LGBT kids kept coming by our office for a safe space to “be” even though we had no youth program; we felt compelled to offer them something! Well a few years have passed and we are very proud that our youth program continues to grow in attendance. I’m afraid the kids might outgrow our new space quickly!

We’ve been working hard since the end of 2006 to make this building a reality, but now comes the time for the real sweating from manual labor!  I personally can’t wait to start painting and working on some minor renovations to our new home (we need a bigger “living room,” so a wall has to come down!).

We will be planning several “work days” over the summer to clean, paint and move in; I hope many of you will join us for these as well as upcoming events at HPC.

Stay Tuned,

The future looks bright!

David S. Bimbi, Chair, HPC

It’s been unreal, but it actually happened! HPC is proud to announce that we have closed on the building we were planning to acquire to open the region’s first LGBT / HIV Community Services Center & to be the first property that our LGBT community owns in the state!

That’s an amazing accomplishment on the part of so many community members, allies, elected officials, funders, corporate partners, HPC’s staff & board, and so many people who will be recognized in the coming months as we complete the transition into our new skin.

We have so much news that will come along with this transition - from the exciting new events that will get started once we complete renovations, to the volunteer opportunities (including fun volunteer work party days and newly formed committees!), and so much more.

We can’t believe it’s here, and we have everyone around us to thank for helping us get there. It’s been fourteen years in the making, and we are proud that we finally took that leap.

I know that I can’t wait for us to get in there, complete our renovations, and share it all with you - so be sure to join our mailing list so that as soon as we secure the open house date in the Fall, you will be the first to get an invite! See you soon!

Tonight HPC’s Board Chair, David Bimbi, joined me to see LGBT activist and visionary Sue Hyde speak at the LGBT Community Center in New York. The room was filled with other visionaries, activists, and leaders, including Marjorie Hill, Richard Burns, Amber Hollibaugh (Google them if you need to!) and a number of other great and passionate minds.

The event was part of the ‘Center Voices‘ program, and when Richard Burns invited us to the event, I knew we had to attend. Sue Hyde is one of the leaders of the LGBT community building movement, and upon founding the Creating Change conference in 1988 (to date the largest LGBT conference), took steps towards cementing the important network of our movement on an unprecedented scale.

Ms. Hyde was interviewed by Sean Cahill (of GMHC), and the talk was centered around her newly published book (out this week) entitled “Come Out and Win: Organizing Yourself, Your Community, and Your World.” The talk was a great reflection on where the LGBT community movement has been, where it has struggled, and where it will continue to go. The book is a fantastic resource, and we hope to be able to share its insight with you through our work at HPC, particularly as we move forward with building a true safe space (one of our original core values in our bylaws!) for the entire community to share.

We have a few copies of the book in our library at HPC, which once we move into our new location, we hope to open to the public in a much larger capacity (including a potential lending program).

If you wish to purchase the book and support HPC, we have a few copies, so feel free to contact us.

We are so excited for the fun and so glad you decided to join us!

We see this as a forum for organizational news, updates, and also a personal contact with the leaders of the organization to occasionally get on our (informal) soap boxes.

We hope it will grow, and grow, and grow as more people join the conversation and we begin to post regional news, events, commentary and more.