“On behalf of New Avenues for Youth and the diverse young people we serve, I want to express our deep sadness over the horrific act of violence targeted at the LGBTQ community in Orlando yesterday. Our hearts go out to the victims and to their families, friends and community.   Despite the grief and fear we are all experiencing in the wake of this attack, New Avenues’ commitment to creating a safe space for LGBTQ young people – for all vulnerable young people in our community – is unwavering.  We celebrate and honor the diversity and resiliency of youth who access our Sexual & Gender Minority Youth Resource Center (SMYRC) and all of our programs, and will remain vigilant in supporting and empowering the youth we serve.   New Avenues believes that every young person is deserving of a safe place, free of prejudice, hatred and violence.  We stand with Orlando, we stand with our LGBTQ community and we stand with all those committed to acceptance, love and peace.”

 -Sean Suib, Executive Director

 SMYRC provides a safe, supervised, harassment-free space for sexual and gender minority youth Mondays & Fridays 3:30-8:30pm and Saturdays 2-7pm.  We invite the community to join us as we celebrate Pride this week; a complete list of activities is available at newavenues.org/smyrc.