Latino Services

💜🌈 Happy Hispanic Latin@x Heritage Month! Join us in honoring and celebrating the rich cultural contributions, history, and resilience of the Hispanic and Latin@x communities. Let’s come together to recognize the vibrant diversity that strengthens our community. ¡Vamos a celebrar juntos!

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💜🌈 ¡Feliz Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana! Acompáñanos a honrar y celebrar las ricas contribuciones culturales, la historia y la resiliencia de las comunidades hispana y latina. Unámonos para reconocer la vibrante diversidad que fortalece a nuestra comunidad. ¡Vamos a celebrar juntos!

Have you been a victim of a hate crime or hate incident, or know someone who has been a victim? Do you know of a hate crime or hate incident that has happened?

Report hate crimes and hate incidents to The Center. We can provide support!

💜 Our staff are available Monday-Friday, 10am-7pm.
[email protected]
619-692-2077

💖✨Thank you to all who came to "Sashay, You Play!" Your presence really made the event amazing. A special shoutout to our awesome staff and volunteers whose hard work and dedication made it all possible. Thank you!

📣 The Center, Hillcrest Youth Center, and South Bay Youth Center will be closed on Monday, September 2, 2024, in observance of the Labor Day Holiday. We will resume operations on Tuesday, September 3.

🎲 🌈 Join us today, August 29th, for a free game night at The Center from 5:30-7:30pm! We will have various board games and card tables set up for everyone to enjoy. All are welcome to join us as we create a social space for our LGBTQ+ community. We will provide games, pizza, and soft drinks.

🔗 RSVP Link: https://thecentersd.org/events/sashay-you-play
📅 August 29th, 2024, 5:30-7:30pm
📍 The Center’s Auditorium, 3909 Centre St.
📨 [email protected]

This week, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to require all County libraries to carry “challenged and banned books” and display them during Banned Book Week in September.

The San Diego LGBT Community Center is proud to support the passing of this policy. Book bans disproportionately target LGBTQ+ and BIPOC voices, and the rise in book bans across the nation demonstrates the need to protect and uplift these voices. Ensuring access to these books is an important step in amplifying underrepresented voices to promote inclusivity, acceptance, and respect. We thank Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer for her leadership in championing this policy.

♥️ Join us on August 27 at 4 p.m. at The Center as we unite faith communities to raise awareness, promote compassion, and combat stigma in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Spanish interpreting services are available and dinner will be served promptly at 4:30pm.To RSVP, contact Ramon Sandoval at (619) 581-2431 or Hugo de la Torre at (619) 581-5726.

📒🖍️ Get free school supplies and a backpack and be entered into an opportunity drawing for more prizes. Join us for a school supply drive in collaboration with The Center’s Families Network and Youth Services. The drive is open to youth from elementary school to college age.

✏️ For more information, contact: [email protected]

💜Join us on September 20, 2024 from 6-8pm for an event focused on learning coping skills, providing community support, and sharing ways to reduce su***de.

Rise Above the Stigma is hosted by The Center’s Behavioral Health Services Department, Urban Restoration Counseling Center, and other community partners.

RSVP: https://bit.ly/rise-above-stigma

📣 The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency due to a more dangerous strain of that has affected tens of thousands in Africa. Although there are no immediate risks in the U.S., the CDC still recommends that individuals at higher risk receive full vaccination.

It’s good to be extra about your sexual health and wellness. Learn more about where to get the MPOX vaccine, resources, and additional preventive measures to avoid MPOX at thecentersd.org/mpox

📣 SAN DIEGO LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT
We are seeking a diverse group of LGBTQ+ people in San Diego County to help us craft the assessment survey, including women, transgender and nonbinary folks, those living with HIV, unhoused youth, and those who reside all over the county (South, Central, East, and North San Diego).

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
The San Diego LGBT Community Center and the County of San Diego are teaming up to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment for our LGBTQ+ community. We need your voice!

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Participate in Focus Groups and Key Informative Interviews: Share your experiences, insights, and ideas. A grocery store gift card will be provided as compensation.

📧 For more information, reach out to Sarah Merk-Benitez (she/her) at [email protected]

LET’S MAKE A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER!

🎒📚 Support our LGBTQIA+ youth by joining our school supply drive! You can drop off your donations at South Bay Youth Center and Hillcrest Youth Center, and we will be distributing all collected supplies on August 27th and 29th!

✏️ For more information, contact: [email protected]

🎲 🌈 Join us for a free game night at The Center on August 29th, 2024, from 5:30-730pm! We will have various board games and card tables set up for folks to play. All are welcome to join us as we create a social space for our LGBTQ+ community. Games, pizza, and soft drinks will be provided.

🔗 RSVP Link: https://thecentersd.org/events/sashay-you-play
📅 August 29th, 2024, 5:30-7:30pm
📍 The Center’s Auditorium, 3909 Centre St.
📨 [email protected]

🌈 📖 Join The Center's Training Institute on August 29, 2024, for the next Mental Health Awareness Training: LGBTQ+ People and Homelessness via ZOOM.
🔗 Register at https://thecentersd.org/trainings

In this training you will learn how to:
-Develop LGBTQ+ inclusive language
-Provide safe, affirming, and competent services to LGBTQ+ people
-Recognize signs and symptoms for mental health issues

💚 Join us for a bi-weekly, peer-led, drop-in support group for gay, bi, straight, trans, and questioning men of all ages to share their issues with any stage of the coming out process. We provide a safe, welcoming space to meet others who may be going through a similar transition or have already come out.

The group meets on the first Thursday via Zoom and the third Thursday in person at The Center. For more information, please contact Jesus (he/him) at [email protected]

Join the Study before September 23, 2024, and enter the Nexus Study Raffle to see Grupo Firme at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on September 28th.

Learn how to earn up to $360 by talking to Nexus UCSD about your experiences navigating stigma in your social circles! Study visits can be done in person or virtually, and everything is CONFIDENTIAL 🤫

Study Eligibility:
✅ Identify as Cisgender Man
✅ Identify as Hispanic/Latino (Caribbean and South American inclusive)
✅ Be HIV Negative
✅ Have S*x with Men
✅ Be living in San Diego County

For more information, visit thecentersd.org/nexus or contact Juan Esparza (he/they) at [email protected]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✨ Thank you to all the fantastic, dedicated, and hard-working Center and SD Pride volunteers who joined us in community, celebration, and pride at the Senior Pride Parade Accessibility Seating area during the Pride Parade.

The amazing volunteers and Senior Services staff worked together to ensure that over 270 community members could enjoy the Pride Parade in a safe environment.

🏳️‍🌈

The Center condemns the excessive use of force that killed Sonya Massey (she/her), a Black woman who was shot by Illinois sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson after she called police for help.

We stand in solidarity with community members asking for more accountability and reform from police departments across the nation.

We mourn the loss of Sonya Massey, another Black life taken by police violence in this country.

We acknowledge that this incident may be triggering and traumatizing, especially for our Black, Latin@x, and immigrant LGBTQ+ community members who experience higher rates of overpolicing. The Center is here to offer our community Crisis Support Services, support and discussion groups, and more to create safe and LGBTQ-affirming spaces where folks are welcomed, valued, and supported.

💛🌈 The future is sexual health! ( ) is The Center’s comprehensive S*xual Health & Wellness Program that ensures individuals are empowered to take charge of their sexual health and well-being.

BTG’s five tenets:
– Fight to reduce stigma and barriers to improve access to screening
– Test so individuals know their HIV status
– Treat when someone is diagnosed with HIV or STIs
– Protect by providing resources to remain HIV negative or undetectable, and STI free
– Empower with a robust combination of education, engagement, and services

For more information, visit: thecentersd.org/bethegeneration

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✨ Thank you to all the amazing community members who came by and said hi at the Pride Parade contingent yesterday! It was so heartwarming to see everyone united in celebrating love and acceptance.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️

💃 💃 Join us at The Center on August 3rd, from 6-9pm for the Red Hot Dance for women! Come out to dance, mingle, eat some good food, and enjoy yourself in a safe and fun space filled with q***r women. See you there!

For more information, visit www.thecentersd.org/red-hot.

💜 In partnership with The San Diego LGBT Community Center, presents "Healing Our Spiritual Selves,"
a dedicated in-person group designed to support LGBTQ+ community members in recognizing and addressing the impact of religious trauma.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

🌹 The Center auditorium came alive last Saturday as we danced the night away at our annual Pachanga De Frida event! Our beautiful and vibrant familia gathered together as music and dancing filled the room.

Thank you to all who joined us, and to our incredible sponsors who made this event possible. Congratulations to the winner of this year’s Frida Look-Alike contest!

Proceeds from this event go to Latin@x Services at The Center. 🧡

🌈 📖 Join The Center's Training Institute on June 27, 2024, for the next Mental Health Awareness Training: LGBTQ+ People and Homelessness via ZOOM.

🔗 Register at https://thecentersd.org/trainings

During this free webinar, you will learn how to:
🔹 Develop LGBTQ+ inclusive language for unhoused community members and learn about associated health disparities.
🔹 Provide safe, affirming, and competent services to LGBTQ+ people who show signs and symptoms of mental health challenges and are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness.
🔹 Recognize signs and symptoms of mental health challenges for LGBTQ+ people who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness.
🔹 Apply LGBTQ+ adaptations to SAMHSA’s evidence-based Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP55)—Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol for behavioral health service providers.

💃 🍹 🌮 This Saturday, join The Center for Pachanga de Frida as we celebrate the birthday of Frida Kahlo! The event will include live music, local Latino/a/x vendors, a Frida look-alike contest, great food, and tequila! Proceeds benefit Latin@x Services at The Center.

Tickets:
🌹 Presale: $25
🌹 At the door: $30
🌹 Table for 8: $400 (2 tacos + 1 drink per guest table)
🔗 Purchase tickets here: thecentersd.org/frida
📅 Saturday, June 22, 2024, 5–9pm
📍 The Center, 3909 Centre St.

More information, call 619.692.2077 or email [email protected]

❤️ The Center's Behavioral Health Services (BHS) offers individual counseling to assist and support individuals living with HIV/AIDS in achieving overall health and well-being, including those who are newly diagnosed as well as those who are long-term survivors.

🔗 For more information or to enroll in counseling services, please contact 619.692.2077 x208, or email [email protected].