Triangle Community Center

Triangle Community Center (TCC) has been a home, a hub and a lifeline for LGBTQIA+ people across Fairfield County since 1990. Its mission is to empower and advocate for LGBTQIA+ people in Connecticut through community, health and learning programs, and its vision is a world where LGBTQIA+ people are celebrated, feel safe and can reach essential resources without barriers. The center sits at 650 West Avenue in Norwalk and is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm.

Much of TCC's daily work happens one on one. Care Coordination serves LGBTQIA+ individuals and families of all ages, whether someone is a young adult exploring identity, a parent advocating for a child or an older adult looking for connection and care. Coordinators help people reach affirming mental health and primary care, navigate gender-affirming care, find emergency and transitional housing, obtain name and gender marker changes, handle coming out and family conversations, and connect with employment support and recovery resources. TCC also offers brief, solutions-focused counseling. Through Young Adult Housing Navigation, part of Connecticut's Coordinated Access Network and the 2-1-1 system, TCC helps LGBTQIA+ people ages 18 to 24 facing housing instability connect with shelters, transitional housing, rapid rehousing and financial assistance.

The center also meets basic needs directly. The Community Cupboard is a free, confidential food pantry for community members who could use extra support. The Gender-Affirming Closet offers free clothing, binders, shoes and accessories to transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse people of all ages. People enrolled in care coordination can use on-site laundry and showers, and the queer lending library and public computers are open to visitors. Each winter the Holiday Assistance Program brings gift cards, toys, warm clothing and meals to LGBTQIA+ families and individuals.

Connection is the other half of TCC's work. The Lighthouse Youth Program gives teens ages 12 to 18 a relaxed, confidential drop-in space for art, games and conversation on the first and third Mondays of each month. Adult groups include Triangle Transgender Society, a nonbinary support and discussion group, Pride at Any Time for people coming to terms with their identity after age 25, Outstanding Warriors for GBTQ men, and PFLAG Norwalk for families and allies. The center hosts LGBTQIA+ Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and its event calendar includes workshops such as Oldway Sessions, a free ballroom and vogue workshop rooted in Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ history.

TCC's reach extends beyond its doors through the LGBTQ+ Training Institute, which offers workshops, facilitated conversations and speakers to help schools, health care providers, businesses and service agencies across Connecticut become more inclusive and affirming.

Every June, TCC hosts Pride in the Park at Veterans Memorial Park in Norwalk, Fairfield County's largest LGBTQIA+ Pride festival, with free admission, food trucks, performers and family activities. Each fall, the annual Gala brings supporters together for an evening of celebration and a silent auction that funds programs year-round. Volunteers help with Pride in the Park, the Gala and seasonal projects, and community members can support the pantry, closet and holiday drives or give online.