Our Mission: The mission of Blue Ridge Pride is to foster an informed, engaged and supportive LGBTQIA2S+ community through intersectional belonging, equity, liberation, and joy work under our 4 pillars: advocate, celebrate, educate and serve.
Our Vision: We envision a vibrant, inclusive community where all LGBTQIA2S+ individuals in WNC experience belonging and live with dignity, equity, hope and joy.
Call to Action: We are working toward an intersectional and intergenerational world where every person is free to express their true selves and thrive without fear or prejudice.
OUR VALUES
Framework: We pursue our mission and vision within the ideological frameworks of Queer Liberation and Queer Joy.
Queer Liberation: the dismantling of oppressive systems and structures that marginalize LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, fostering an environment where each individual has the ability to self-determine their identity and their path in life.
Queer Joy: the individual and collective experience of hope, authenticity and pleasure that comes from an alignment of individual experience and purpose with collective care, work and celebration
Our History
Blue Ridge Pride Center, Inc. was formed in 2009 by a group who saw the need for a community-driven organization that would appeal to the diverse LGBTQIA2S+ communities of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. In October of 2009, we held our first festival at Asheville’s Martin Luther King Jr. Park . Approximately 2,000 people came out to the event on a rainy day to celebrate and to learn more about our community and the resources available to us. During the next 10 years, the organization focused chiefly on two annual events, the fall Pride Festival and the annual Miss Blue Ridge Pride Pageant.
In 2018, the board voted to expand the organization’s mission, programs, and geographical scope. From 2018 through 2023, as our festival grew larger by the year (in 2023, 14,000 people attended), we planted the seed for and began implementing several programs, including our current Generation Plus, Pride Portal and Business Alliance.
In 2023, we also hired our first Full-Time Executive Director who soon hired our first full-time Education and Outreach Coordinator, part-time Website and Graphic Design Coordinator, part-time Bookkeeper, and brought Oral History home by onboarding our Oral History Project Director part-time. With this new crew, our impact and internal capacity began to grow. In January of 2024, our Board of Directors expanded significantly both in size and diversity, at which point, given the change in composition of our agency and the new threats against our trans community, a new mission that focused more directly on the LGBTQIA2S+ community and encompassed even more breadth for programming, became important. In 2024, we officially launched our Welcoming Spaces trainings, Health Equity initiatives, and a new slate of June events including our Pride 5K and Stonewall Gala. We are slated to offer sliding scale mental health support in 2025, as well as release a new Strategic Plan.
Legal & Financial Records
Blue Ridge Pride Center, Inc. is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and with the Secretary of State of North Carolina.
Form W-9
501(c)(3) Determination Letter
Employer Identification Number: 26-4272258
Recent IRS Filings: Form 990EZ: 2022 2021 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
Our Programs and Projects
WNC Pride Portal – Leverage the internet to connect, inform, and support our community. Includes a community calendar, news center, and resource directories.
Education and Outreach – Create a more welcoming community by educating people about our shared humanity. The two major arms of this endeavor are our Welcoming Spaces trainings and the WNC LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project.
Generation Plus – Address the needs of a large and growing population in our community: those who have entered life’s third act.
Business Alliance – Partner with businesses and entrepreneurs to strengthen our community by working together.
Community Events – Create events that bring people together a foster a more welcoming community. Includes our festival, procession, pageant, Pride 5K, Stonewall Gala, and several other special events.
Advocacy-Tell our stories in strategic and helpful ways, speak truth to power that seeks to dehumanize and erase us, push back on policies and procedures that curtails our human or civil rights, or otherwise disenfranchise LGBTQIA2S+ people at various intersections. Get Out the Vote!
Health Equity-Gather and disseminate information on health disparities and health interventions for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, including on social determinants of health.