The LGBT Center of Greater Reading is rounding out its educational offerings and kicking off Pride Month 2021 with the grand opening of its new Community Training and Technology Center (TTC), an onsite resource available to provide education, developmental, and technological services to community members. The TTC builds on the LGBT Center’s existing services and status as southeast Pennsylvania’s leading training resource for LGBTQIA+ issues.
“We heard many times from our custom-program professional development clients that they wanted community access to a broader suite of training classes that maintained the same caliber,” said Michelle Dech, Executive Director. “We established the Training and Technology Center to respond to that need with the same top-tier, expert-level educational resources the Berks County community counts on us to provide, while also deepening our collaboration with partner organizations to reach broader audiences.”
The addition of the TTC rounds out the LGBT Center’s educational platform, now including virtual, client-site, and onsite training at the Center. TTC grand opening sessions for Pride Month include:
- LGBT 101 and an Introduction to the LGBT Center on Thursday, June 10 at 6:30 pm, and
- Allyship on Sunday, June 27 at 4 pm.
In further commemoration of Pride Month, the Center announced a full slate of events that span social gatherings, professional and family services, local businesses, health and well-being, and the arts.
“We’ve received a lot of feedback from the community that they want to celebrate Pride Month this year,” said Michelle Dech, Executive Director. “Our staff and board members felt we were in the perfect position to help people celebrate while safely bringing traffic back to our local businesses.”
Kicking off the 30-day line-up is the raising of the LGBTQ+ Pride Flag over Reading’s City Hall. Highlights throughout the month include the first Rainbow Crawl of West Reading, featuring local shops, restaurants, and other vendors; a foster and adoption fair with local adoption agencies; a movie night; Pride “Play Days;” and drag events at the Reading Distilling Guild. The full list of events can be found at http://www.lgbtcenterofreading.com or on the Center’s Facebook page. Interspersed throughout the month, the Center will commemorate the history of the LGBT community, significant events, and critical points of interest to today’s LGBTQIA+ community members and their allies through videos, photos, articles, and more.
Just as the LGBT Center’s support and services are available year-round, workshops at the TTC are planned on a twice monthly basis. Complete date and topic listings are available on http://www.lgbtcenterofreading.com or on the Center’s Facebook page. Upcoming topics span a wide range of interests and include social justice, gender identity and expression, pronouns, cultural competency, trans101, adoption and foster care, mental health in the LGBT community, disabilities in the LGBT community, creating an inclusive environment, and more. If you are a local social services organization who would like to offer your training through the TTC or partner with the LGBT Center on a joint training, email [email protected] or call (484) 513-3170.
