Fredericksburg Area Health and Support Services, a local nonprofit which offers primary care and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, will open an LGBTQ+ community center this summer.
Executive Director Joseph Lyttle announced the new center at Fredericksburg’s Pride Festival at Old Mill Park. “Although our community has had gay-friendly businesses and churches and the like, we strongly believe that this community needs a space created specifically for us,” Lyttle explained. “Our hope is that the Pride Center can serve as a central hub for all of our local LGBTQ community, providing free meeting space, free event space, information about community events and activities, and referrals for medical or mental health and other support services.”
FAHASS distributed community surveys around the festival to help decide what services and activities the Pride Center will offer. The nonprofit already has ideas and pre-existing programs for which the new venue will be used, Lyttle said, “but really it’s a community center, so it’s up to the community what kind of services that they will want.”
The center is set to open on August 13th at 4343 Plank Road with a public grand opening celebration.
