(Image courtesy OIC)
ORLANDO | The Orlando Immunology Center and Come Out With Pride have partnered on a program that allows the two organizations to sponsor grassroots organizations into this year’s Pride parade and festival who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to do so.
The Grassroots Sponsorship initiative, created by OIC’s community advisory board, will provide grants to five grassroots organizations in Central Florida to be used toward costs associated with participating in COWP’s signature events.
“We had the budget to do something that would increase the visibility of grassroots groups that are working in our community to improve the lives of the same people that OIC serves” said Andres Acosta, chair of OIC’s community advisory board. “By partnering with Pride, we are able to make the most important celebration for the LGBTQ+ community in Orlando more accessible to smaller groups with less funding.”
The five organizations chosen as the first ever recipients of the OIC sponsorships are Black Health Commission, which works to advance health equity in Orlando and are most known for their Black Joy Festival; Blue Trunk Garden Network, which leads several educational initiatives that make gardening and food cultivation accessible to marginalized communities; Divas In Dialogue, one of the most respected trans-lead organizations in the area working to empower and educate the trans community in Orlando; Orlando Queer and Trans Asian Association, which led the creation for Pride of Color and the sex worker relief fund and works to create a space for the Asian LGBTQ+ community in Orlando; and Painting Change, a grassroots initiative that uses art as a form of activism and community building created by muralist Kim Murphy.
“This year’s [Pride] theme [of ‘A Place For Us’] is very close to my heart because I believe that Pride is for all of our community and everyone deserves to be celebrated here,” Tatiana Quiroga, COWP’s executive director, said in a statement. “The creation of the grassroots scholarship recipients is just one of the many ways in which we are bridging the gap to make Pride more inclusive of everyone in our community.”
The five selected groups will join the more than 200 organizations, businesses and nonprofits at Orlando’s Lake Eola Park Oct. 15 for COWP’s Pride Festival and The Most Colorful Parade.
You can read more about the day’s events in the official Come Out With Pride guide online here.
