Solano Pride Center

Solano Pride Center builds community and provides comprehensive services for Solano County's LGBTQIA2S+ people, their allies and the broader community. Its vision is a county where all LGBTQIA2S+ people live freely and authentically, and its work reaches from Fairfield to Vallejo, Vacaville, Suisun City, Benicia, Dixon and Rio Vista. This fall the center moves into a new Fairfield office on West Texas Street, with a satellite space in Vallejo to follow, where its Library and Transformation Station will find a new home.

Mental health care sits at the core of the center's services. Clinicians see clients for up to six months at no cost, helping people make sense of life as a queer person, find support while coming out, work through religious trauma or build self-confidence. Appointments are made through a confidential counseling line, and the center does not ask about citizenship or documentation. Staff who know the county's support system also help people apply for food assistance and Medi-Cal and connect them with partner agencies, and anyone who is hungry can take what they need from the food shelf in the lobby.

Much of the center's life happens in its social and support groups, all run under shared community agreements. The Coping with Loss group meets in person for anyone grieving a person, a pet, a friendship or a job. The QR Code is a 12-step group for LGBTQ+ people in recovery from any addiction. There is a Women's Group, a trans-inclusive supper and conversation group for men and masculine folks, the Gender Expansive Circle for trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people, and Nuestro Orgullo, a free Spanish-speaking group for Latino LGBTQIA2S+ community members and allies. Art therapy series, Queering Faith conversations, movie nights and Gayme Night round out the calendar.

Older adults have gathered at the Senior Lunch program since 2017, sharing a nutritious meal along with presentations on fall prevention, avoiding scams, disaster preparedness, accessing CalFresh and why pronouns matter. Teens meet at a youth group in the Fairfield lobby with art and library resources, at a Vacaville youth group hosted by Epiphany Church, and alongside partners running Teen Pride in Rio Vista and youth programs at the Dixon Library. Teens who need to talk can call or text the executive director directly.

The center's health and education work reaches well beyond its own doors. It hosts American Red Cross blood drives to diversify the blood supply, shares HIV, hepatitis C, STI and mpox prevention information, and offers cultural competency trainings for schools, therapists, health care workers, businesses and senior living staff, including SB 923 and Gen Silent trainings. Through its Welcoming Congregations network it partners with affirming churches across the county on events like the annual Interfaith Pride Service.

Each spring the center produces Suisun Pride in Suisun City, with live music, vendors and the Hetero Hero Award for an ally, and it raises support at the Spring Into Pride Dinner. Volunteers set up Senior Lunches, table at drag brunches and community events, assemble safer-sex kits at home, help with Pride and pitch in on moving days. Donations through Zeffy or PayPal keep programs going, and the weekly Wednesday eBlast shares everything coming up.