Program Overview.

Community Outreach

Our Community Outreach programming seeks to identify needs in the community, establish partnerships with community members, organizations and businesses, and develop social and networking opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.

Social Networking Initiatives

Third Thursday Socials offer community members and business owners an opportunity to network in a casual setting.

Rainbow Bowling League is a fun, nine week bowling league. This family friendly event happens in the Spring and Fall.

Drag Bingo is hosted monthly and proceeds benefit our Neighbors Helping Neighbors Program.

All the Queen’s Men is a monthly show that features drag king talent with a focus on local entertainers. Proceeds benefit our Neighbors Helping Neighbors Program.

Pride Business Directory

All participants in our Pride Business Directory display our “Inclusive Space Welcome Decal”. The ‘DeLand Pride Welcome’ and ‘Support Volusia Welcome’ window stickers represent diversity, inclusion, and respect for all members of our community. Celebrating the diversity within our communities provides an important opportunity for local businesses and organizations to visibly declare they are committed to inclusiveness and to welcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people and families. Welcome Decals are provided free of charge to participating businesses.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Our Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) programming supports local community organizations in their work to create positive change throughout the community, focusing on our Community Partners that help to fulfill identified needs gaps. This program also organizes fundraising events to assist in achieving those goals.

Stuff the Bus

The Stuff the Bus Initiative identifies and helps fill specific needs at local target schools that serve primarily marginalized and low income residents.

Feets and Seats

The Feets and Seats Initiative collects and purchases undergarments to help support the work of the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia with the Homeless Community.

Holiday Gift Drive

The Holiday Gift Drive collects and purchases gifts, clothing, and household supplies for families in need as identified though several Community Partners.

Austin Wasserman Community Arts Grant

The Austin Waserman Community Art Grant is awarded to creators, makers, and emerging artists with small grants to help fund art classes, apprentice programs, and to start a new art business. Grants are available for students, entrepreneurs, and new or experienced artists.

Advocacy and Education

Our Advocacy and Education programming works to develop programs to fill needs gaps in our area, provide information and referral services, advocate for change, and support those advocating for change through political action, public education, and lending support to causes and organizations that align with our values.

Advocacy

Advocacy is an ongoing and ever changing need in our community. Our Advocacy Team responds to current events and community requests as the need arises. Our Advocacy Team is actively working on prioritizing our agenda to ensure we are a strong voice for our community. The goal of the Advocacy Team is to help the community find their voice and support individuals and systems in the fight to create more inclusive and equitable policy and public opinion.

Trans Pride Volusia

Trans Pride Volusia (TPV) is a program in development that aims to address the needs gap in Volusia County for Transgender and Non-Binary persons. TPV will develop a resource database specifically geared to the Transgender Community with entries relating to medical, legal, social, and image related needs. In addition to an online resource database, TPV will establish Transgender and Non-Binary support groups and peer-facilitated case management once building space becomes available, with the ultimate goal of providing professional case management. Through the development of this program we also plan to compile much needed data regarding the needs and gaps in service for the Transgender Community in Volusia County.

Pride Chapter Incubator

The Pride Chapter Incubator allows us to share the lessons we have learned over the years while helping to establish Pride Networks in neighboring Volusia County cities. Newly formed Pride Chapters receive help establishing financial and business systems, creating marketing elements, building and maintaining social media accounts and websites, assistance with event planning and fundraising, and mentoring during the first year at no cost. After the first year, these Pride Networks have the option to establish their own organization status and 501(c)3 registration or remain as a Support Volusia Pride Chapter while contributing to a share of the cost of administrative expenses such as insurance and annual compliance filing costs.

Youth and Family Programming

Our Youth programming aims to encourage future leaders by creating safe spaces for young people to connect and developing pathways to engage, support, mentor, and nurture queer youth and their allies.

Support Groups

Youth Socials are heal the last Saturday of the month at the Chisholm Community Center in DeLand. We have different activities and themes each month to encourage young people to come together to share their experiences and support each other.

Parents and caregivers are offered a support group every other Monday starting February 6th, 2023. This group is facilitated by Mary Bernard, M.S. and provides a safe space to ask questions and share experiences.

Pride Prom

Pride Prom is an annual outreach event catering to local area high school students, community college students, and other youth and young adult members of the LGBTQ community and their allies. Pride Prom provides space for our youth to come together for a memorable night of music, dancing, food, and fun in a safe and welcoming environment.

Rainbow Alliance Scholarship Program

The Volusia-Flagler Rainbow Alliance Scholarship Program offers scholarships to LGBTQ+ students in Volusia and Flagler County attending or planning to attend a college, university, or post-secondary vocational or technical program, including apprenticeship programs. The purpose of these scholarships is to promote and support the LGBTQ+ community in Volusia and Flagler Counties and encourage leadership in the community.

Special Events

Our Special Events programming organizes large community events that appeal to people of diverse backgrounds while promoting love, respect, diversity, and equity. These large community events also act as fundraising opportunities to fund the other work of the organization.

Love is Love Month

Our annual Pride Festival is held in February. This event is held to build unity in our community and provide all people with an opportunity to be their authentic selves during a month long celebration of remembrance, celebration, and fellowship.

Volusia Pride Pageant

The DeLand Pride Pageant crowns the King and Queen that will represent DeLand Pride at community events throughout Florida.

Rocky Horror featureing the Absent Friends Shadow Cast

In collaboration with Athens Theater and The Absent Friends, we screen the cult classic, Rocky Horror Picture Show, featuring a live shadow cast as a joint fundraiser for DeLand Pride and Athens Theater.

June Pride Month Celebration

Pride Month is celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. Weekly events are held throughout the month to celebrate Pride, remember Orlando Pulse, and recognize the anniversary of DeLand Pride.

Community Partnerships

Our mission drives us to advocate for and support our community. To do this we strive to build partnerships with other community organizations whose missions and values align.

Volusia Resource Directory

The Volusia Resource Directory (VRD) is made possible through a partnership with Stetson University Center for Community Engagement and AmeriCorps/VISTA. Originally created as an AmeriCorps/Vista Economic Development Project, the VRD is now managed and updated by Support Volusia. The VRD is a database of community resources and programs throughout Volusia County serving marginalized, disadvantaged, displaced, and needy individuals and their families. There is continuous work to maintain an up-to-date online database. Annually, 200 hard copies of the database are printed and distributed to high traffic information and referral sites. The online database can be accessed at www.VolusiaResourceDirectory.org at no charge.

Black Biz Directory

BlackBizDeLand.com began as a result of the Central Florida Foundation awarding a micro-grant to DeLand Pride in December of 2020 to Improve Racial Inclusivity in DeLand. After multiple Zoom meetings with representatives from DeLand’s black community, the city of DeLand, Volusia County, and Stetson University, it was decided that the most advantageous use of the grant was to create a black-owned business directory. For black-owned businesses, inclusion in the directory is free of charge.

Due to the tremendous initial positive response, the West Volusia Chapter of the NAACP and DeLand Pride were delighted to announce the expansion of BlackBizDeLand.com to include all of Volusia County and become BlackBizVolusia.com! The site is a browsable and searchable database that indexes black-owned businesses in DeLand and throughout Volusia County. Visitors to the website can peruse the many black-owned businesses by keywords, location, and category for the specific product or service they seek.

The website was developed and will be maintained by Kimberly Cline, Communications, Press & Publicity Chair for the West Volusia Branch of the NAACP. DeLand Pride and the West Volusia NAACP invite the public to use this directory to make a positive difference in local economic equality.

Become a Volunteer.

Interested in Volunteering with us? Head over to our volunteer page and send us your info!