District 1 City Councilman Roberto C. Treviño and the board of Pride Center San Antonio announced on New Year’s Eve that the organization had found a permanent home just one block from the Main Avenue Strip.
The new Pride Center will be located in a professional office building owned by the Metropolitan Methodist Hospital on the 300 block of Ogden Street which borders the east side of Crockett Park.
The new space will be much larger than the 200 square foot office the Center currently occupies on North St. Mary’s Street. There will now be plenty of room to take walk-ins, conduct meetings and hold classes.
City Councilman Roberto C. Treviño (fourth from left) with current and past board members of Pride Center San Antonio at the group’s New Year’s Eve party. (Photo via Facebook)
“In these uncertain times, the opening of a safe space in San Antonio was long overdue,” Robert Salcido, Pride Center’s board president told Out In SA. “As the seventh largest city, not having a walk-in facility was no longer an option. It was this that drove the leadership team to build and strengthen relationships across the city over the last couple of years. Of these relationships, Councilman Roberto Treviño connected us to others who shared our vision of a more inclusive San Antonio.”
In an email to Out In SA, Justin Renteria, Trevino’s communications coordinator, says the councilman has been active in helping the Pride Center look for a permanent home for the last two years.
“Councilman Treviño and his staff worked with and connected Pride Center’s leadership to Metropolitan Methodist administration with whom our office has a great working relationship,” Renteria explained. “The councilman wanted to connect an organization in need with available resources and ensure the new office would be located near the LGBT community.”
“Ultimately a partnership with Methodist Healthcare System was the best fit to help us fully deliver our mission and vision to the community,” says Salcido. “This transformational investment by Methodist will help solidify our vision to serve all LGBTQ+ San Antonians who will look to The Center in the years ahead for a range of services that meet their unique needs.”
The Pride Center and Metropolitan Methodist will negotiate a lease with move-in expected sometime in the spring.
The Pride Center became a Federal 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2012 with a goal “to promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and ally community in Bexar County” and “to establish the center as a clearinghouse that would work in alliance, rather than in competition, with existing programs and services within our community.”
In 2014, the organization opened its first administrative offices at 147 E. Mistletoe Avenue in the Monte Vista Historic District. Since that time the Center has moved a couple of times while still searching for a permanent location.
In a Facebook post on New Year’s Eve, Councilman Treviño said he was proud of the establishment of “a new home for the Pride Center right in the heart of our compassionate city.” He went on to thank Metropolitan Methodist Hospital and Jay Podjenski, his chief of staff, “for all the creative thinking and collaboration that made this happen.”
