19. Inside the LGBTQ+ Experience in Central Florida

LGBTQ+ is an acronym we all recognize—but how much do we really understand about the people, the history, and the evolving community it represents here in Central Florida?

In this episode, we explore the LGBTQ+ landscape through stories of personal resilience, community impact, and forward-looking change. From the legacy of the Pulse tragedy to new models of care and what it means to be an ally, you’ll hear from voices shaping the region today.

Whether you’re part of the community or simply want to better understand your neighbors, this episode offers clarity, compassion, and a fresh perspective on a vital part of Central Florida’s story.

Guests:

• Tom Dyer, Watermark
• George Wallace, The Center
• Yasmin Flasterstein, Peer Support Space

From CFF:

• Sandi Vidal, VP of Community Strategies and Initiatives
• Neil Rios Laverde, Philanthropic Relationship Manager

Visit the First You Talk website.

Visit Central Florida Foundation's Instagram.

As our region’s community foundation, Central Florida Foundation serves as a launchpad for high-impact philanthropy. Championing the collective power of head, heart and dollar, we coordinate the commitment and investment of philanthropists, nonprofits, and community partners to target today’s most critical challenges and those on the horizon to truly transform our community. The Foundation also offers expert giving advice, a personalized approach to managing charitable funds, and the capacity to convene collaboration across sectors. Learn more at cffound.org.

Transcript

Transcript
00:00:05 Laurie Crocker
Welcome to Central Florida Foundation's First You Talk podcast.
00:00:09 Laurie Crocker
Here you'll gain a better understanding of society's toughest issues at the end of each episode, we'll summarize the main points and offer deeper dive options. If something piques your interest.
00:00:20 Laurie Crocker
So ready to demystify a complex issue and up your knowledge game? Let's get started.
00:00:27 Laurie Crocker
Episode 19: Inside the LGBTQ+ Experience in Central Florida.
00:00:34 Laurie Crocker
The first you talk.
00:00:36 Laurie Crocker
is all about unpacking complex topics and the LGBTQ+ community has long navigated a world of nuance, misunderstanding, and at times, deep polarization. Dialogue and empathy are needed. Now, maybe more than ever. We also know that.
00:00:54 Laurie Crocker
Philanthropy. Civic leadership.
00:00:57 Laurie Crocker
And Community investment are strongest when we reflect all voices and the LGBTQ+ community is an essential thread in the fabric of Central Florida. When I mentioned this episode to Mark Brewer, President and CEO of Central Florida Foundation, I told him, of course it makes sense for us to spotlight.
00:01:17 Laurie Crocker
This community on the podcast, for all the reasons I had just shared. His response, gave me pause, he said. We're doing this episode because it's not really about how people identify if they're part of this community or.
00:01:32 Laurie Crocker
That. It's about the fact that, well, there are people and we're in the business of improving the quality of life for people, all people, end of story. That's the heart of this one. It's a story of people, Central Floridians. Together, we'll walk through history with Tom Dyer, founder of Watermark.
00:01:52 Laurie Crocker
Publishing, we'll explore the meaning and impact of allyship with George Wallace of the Center.
00:01:59 Laurie Crocker
We'll hear about a promising new model for mental health from Yasmin Flasterstein of Peer Support Space. CFF's own Sandi Vidal will help us understand the role of philanthropy, and you'll hear a very human story from one of our very own team members that you've never heard before. On this mic, Neil Rios Laverde.
00:02:19 Laurie Crocker
Throughout this conversation, there is an undeniable thread, one that cannot be glossed over, but instead has to be a part of the conversation. The Pulse tragedy of 2016.
00:02:31 Laurie Crocker
Well, we don't go deep into the tragedy itself. We spend time discussing the before and after and the continued impact that it still has on our community. So however you identify wherever you are in life, this episode will help you talk about this topic in an informed and empathetic way. Let's get started. Like how we often do.
00:02:52 Laurie Crocker
With a little bit of history.
00:02:54 Tom Dyer
OK, well my name is Tom Dyer. And I guess the reason I'm here is because I was the founder of Watermark Newspaper magazine. Whatever you want to call it back in 1994, it has become and is central floridas's.
00:03:15 Tom Dyer
And Tampa bays leading.
00:03:19 Tom Dyer
Queer publication. I'm very proud of it. It's back. When we started in the 90s and then after that, there most large cities had queer metro publications and the the.
00:03:38 Tom Dyer
Situation with newspapers has changed and so most cities don't anymore and I'm very proud to say that Watermark is still thriving, still doing well and you know, gosh, one of a handful of of queer metro publications that's still thriving, it's the largest in.
00:03:56 Tom Dyer
Florida.
00:03:58 Laurie Crocker
So going back to that year, 1994, can we talk a little bit about are you did you grow up here, did you move here?
00:04:07 Tom Dyer
I my family moved here when I was 12 from Madison, WI, so I I did kind of grow up here. Middle School high school. I went to Maitland Junior High School. I went to Winter Park high school. So yeah, this has been my home for.
00:04:25 Tom Dyer
Almost all of my life.
00:04:27 Laurie Crocker
And so you have seen a lot of progress and like I had said before, maybe some setbacks during your your life, your time here. So let's let's just kind of look at the the years before you started watermark, what place were you in, what brought you to starting Watermark?
00:04:49 Tom Dyer
Well, gosh, there are a couple different levels to that answer. 1 is that my own personal journey wasn't an easy one, it's hard to.
00:05:01 Tom Dyer
Take yourself back to the space that that, that we were in in the 70s and 80s and 90s, it was just we were in a culture where it was, it was really not OK to be gay. It was very difficult to be gay. You you, most of us did not come out.
00:05:22 Tom Dyer
And being gay was kind of considered to be the worst thing that could happen to you. Just it was just kind of a A.
00:05:32 Tom Dyer
You kind of thought that you just weren't going to have a great life or that you had to hide it and just not, not ever manifest what you were feeling inside. So just not not happy. Good place to in which to thrive and which to be fulfilled and at peace. And all the things you want to be as a human.
00:05:52 Tom Dyer
Thing. So. So there there was that and then, you know, locally the government and political community there, there really wasn't any sort of organized gay community. It was just in the early 90s when Watermark started, it was just beginning and some.
00:06:12 Tom Dyer
Interesting and exciting things were happening, but we really had no voice in local government, in the local community. And so that, yeah, that was one of the things that motivated it me as well. So I guess what I'd say is my motivations were twofold. 1 is I saw lots of.
00:06:30 Tom Dyer
Of the beginnings of a community, there was a gay bowling league. People were talking about starting a gay softball league. There was the center had just started. There were a couple dozen people who were doing things and organizing gay day at Disney had just begun. So things were happening.
00:06:50 Tom Dyer
But at that time, there was really no way for the queer community to talk to each other to promote these things, to help these things, you know, grow to fuel them. So that was a big reason for what I'm working in. The other thing was, you know, I was on my journey and I was.
00:07:09 Tom Dyer
Trying to find my way to a fulfilling life where I didn't feel guilty all the time and scared all the time and it was a real journey and I saw the beginnings of some things movies, TV shows, things were starting to happen that that we could talk about.
00:07:28 Tom Dyer
In a newspaper and and uh, I often say that.
00:07:33 Tom Dyer
Yeah, the audience for for Watermark was the local queer community. But but really the audience for Watermark was me. I was creating a publication that that was helping me feel good about being gay and and hopefully lots and lots of other people as well. And and that word has certainly gotten back to me in the way.
00:07:52 Tom Dyer
Watermark was received. I I know that that was the case.
00:07:56 Laurie Crocker
Was there anything from that time period in the in the mid 90s either involved with Watermark or outside of your work with Watermark that made you feel like we're moving in the right direction?
00:08:09 Tom Dyer
Oh, many, many, many things. Gosh, it was a really rich time and watermark came along at just the right time. I think for the queer community to start with, I mean, we were in the middle of an AIDS epidemic. Some organizations had formed, but we were able to.
00:08:30 Tom Dyer
Do a lot to help enlighten people about what was going on and about the resources that were available and the ways that we were supporting each other and could support each other so there.
00:08:41 Tom Dyer
With that, within the 90s, we kind of went from being irrelevant to the local political and governmental community to by the end of the 90s being an essential part of it, where political candidates were advertising in watermark, they were talking to us.
00:09:02 Tom Dyer
Soon, you know, we had the mayor's office was was consulting with us about different issues. So that was happening. And also there was the whole, I forget, you know exactly when it happened, mostly in the in the first decade of the 2000s, but.
00:09:19 Tom Dyer
There was the battle for couple recognition, domestic partnership, that sort of morphed into marriage equality and and all of that. So. So that was an important thing really.
00:09:38 Tom Dyer
Interesting and major thing was in I'm I'm going to say it was 1997 or 1998 watermark out the idea that it would be.
00:09:46 Tom Dyer
Fun to hang rainbow flags on all of the light posts throughout downtown Orlando. I mean, they they have the ability to hang banners and other events and organizations had done that and we thought well during gay Pride Month wouldn't be great if we could hang rainbow flags throughout all of downtown Orlando.
00:10:06 Tom Dyer
So we checked with the city. We found out how you made that happen. We filled out all the paperwork. We paid the.
00:10:11 Tom Dyer
Money. And then at the last minute, the city decided that they weren't going to let us do that. Apparently, some very conservative people in the community got wind of it, put a lot of pressure on the City Council. And so we threatened to sue. We we got the ACLU.
00:10:31 Tom Dyer
Involved and we threatened to sue. And there was this.
00:10:34 Tom Dyer
Humongous meeting at Orlando City Hall, where the audience spilled out into the hallways and there were all kinds of people testifying and and telling their stories. And it was it was both ugly and and invigorating at the same time. I mean, just to to see the ignorance and to see the.
00:10:54 Tom Dyer
Homophobia and the the prejudice that exists still, but also to see us standing up, which is something we really never.
00:11:02 Tom Dyer
Done before and ultimately the city sided with us. I don't think because we were more persuasive, but because their legal team said we're we're not going to win this. They we have a contract we this is discrimination. If we don't, we're not going to win this. We need to we need to do this and it happened and those rainbow flags.
00:11:13
MHM.
00:11:16 Laurie Crocker
Right.
00:11:23 Tom Dyer
Still fly.
00:11:24 Laurie Crocker
So you owned and operated Watermark for over 20 years. How would you say?
00:11:27 Tom Dyer
Yes.
00:11:30 Laurie Crocker
It changed over that time, considering maybe the content that you published or the reach of your community, can you summarize ways that you saw watermark change over those years?
00:11:43 Tom Dyer
Well, I think in the beginning we were just sort of grateful for any acknowledgement by the by the general community, but also we were grateful for.
00:11:57 Tom Dyer
Any embrace by local leaders, any embraced by celebrities, any embrace by advertisers, I mean at the beginning, our advertisers were almost all.
00:12:08 Tom Dyer
Queer businesses, queer owned businesses, and a few others. Some age-related businesses, things like that, and the advertising. But I'll never forget that when we signed a bud light to a full page color ad, I mean that that was, that was a very.
00:12:26 Laurie Crocker
Wow.
00:12:28 Tom Dyer
Big deal for us. It was our first national embrace, you know, by national.
00:12:32
MHM.
00:12:34 Tom Dyer
advertiser, we also, you know, started getting access to interviews with people like Lily Tomlin and Billie Jean King and Gloria Steinem and Martina, you know, just, you know, those kinds of things grew. And then I think we, in terms of our, our goals for the queer.
00:12:55 Tom Dyer
Community they they kind of grew. I mean, I remember writing editorials saying that marriage equality is never going to happen in this country, but what we ought to to do is see.
00:13:07 Tom Dyer
Legal, you know, sort of domestic partnership, equality so that we could have all the rights of marriage without without the religious connotations or anything like that. And I that's how limited my goals were because I was kind of beat down by my experience in the past and the culture and.
00:13:26 Tom Dyer
And there were people like Nadine Smith from equality Florida.
00:13:29 Tom Dyer
And others who had a who saw better what we were capable of being. And so our our goals in that regard became more ambitious as well, and we became more more strident advocates of those things.
00:13:43 Laurie Crocker
So you go through the turn of the Millennium. We're now in the, you know, 20 tens, let's say, and any, you know, we have Mayor buddy Dyer. Here Orlando, who's been pretty vocal, I would say, in support of an inclusive community. Was there anything in your personal life that meant a lot to you?
00:14:03 Laurie Crocker
During that time period.
00:14:06 Tom Dyer
I I mean, I I also saw I became friends. Buddy Dyer. I would call a friend. We have the same last name. We're not related but.
00:14:15 Laurie Crocker
Oh, that's a great point. I did Google that.
00:14:19 Tom Dyer
We're not related, but he calls me Brother Dyer and we're very friendly and but I also spent a lot of time talking with Linda Chapin, who was a former Orange County chairman, and Theresa Jacobs, a former Orange County chairman. And I have.
00:14:35 Tom Dyer
Seen their
00:14:38 Tom Dyer
Opinions and their viewpoints grow and change in ways that are just.
00:14:44 Tom Dyer
Warmed my heart and I have such affection for both of those women because they admitted, I mean, some people think that it's it's strong to never change your mind, that that, that that is evidence of strength of character. Just the opposite, these two women.
00:15:02 Tom Dyer
And were strong enough to say, you know what I was wrong on this one and I've I've changed my mind and I believe in query quality. And so that was very personally rewarding to, to to watch these very important people grow.
00:15:22 Tom Dyer
You know and and and also to express their gratitude to watermark and and community leaders for helping them. I really think and I'm very proud of this. I think Watermark presented our community in a accurate and respectful way that.
00:15:39 Tom Dyer
That, that, that painted a picture of a really diverse community that was doing a lot of good for Central Florida. I mean that was a constant theme in the newspaper, was all the people who are doing tremendous things for the LGBT community. And I think people we, you know, we brought ourselves along.
00:15:45
MHM, MHM.
00:15:49
Mm-hmm.
00:15:59 Tom Dyer
Within the queer community, but we brought people who were were not within the queer community long and, you know, to the point where.
00:16:04 Tom Dyer
Like pride parades, now, more than half the people who attend them are not gay, not queer. You know, the whole community. You know, Orlando's become a very, very, very queer, positive place, you know? So, you know, I think Watermark played the real part in that.
00:16:10
MHM.
00:16:31 Laurie Crocker
Tom's honest reflection in the last several decades of LGBTQ plus life in Central Florida underscores a few important points. First, LGBTQ plus individuals have always been a part of this community. They've lived here, worked here, raised families here.
00:16:48 Laurie Crocker
Long before they were widely welcomed or acknowledged by the broader public. Second, Orlando has grown into a vibrant and increasingly open place to call.
00:16:57 Laurie Crocker
Home Tom shares powerful stories from the early struggles to hang rainbow flags downtown to today's Pride parade each year, where thousands of attendees show up not just from the LGBTQ plus community, but from all corners of Central Florida to celebrate, support and stand in solidarity. And finally, he reminds us.
00:17:18 Laurie Crocker
Something that feels especially meaningful right now, that strength isn't about never changing your mind. Real strength is the willingness to evolve as Maya Angelou.
00:17:29 Laurie Crocker
Said do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. Let's shift now to understanding allyship with George Wallace, who not only believes deeply in the importance of allies and working together, but also the importance of continuing a program for those affected by the Pulse tragedy.
00:17:50 Laurie Crocker
But is struggling to do so.
00:17:55 George Wallace
My name is George Wallace. I am the CEO at The Center Orlando. The LGBTQ Plus Center, and I have lived in Orlando since 1992 and coming to Orlando from New England was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
00:18:11 Laurie Crocker
From New England, where are you from?
00:18:12 George Wallace
New Hampshire.
00:18:13 Laurie Crocker
I'm from Connecticut, OK. Kind of close. Kind of close.
00:18:16 George Wallace
Yeah. Yeah. So Yankees or red.
00:18:18 Laurie Crocker
Sox. Red Sox.
00:18:20 George Wallace
Alright, we're good. We're good. I was. I was gonna have to walk out.
00:18:22 Laurie Crocker
Oh, I thought you were gonna go the other way. Nice.
00:18:25 Laurie Crocker
Oh my gosh. Well, I'm glad we got over that first call.
00:18:28
Oh.
00:18:30 Laurie Crocker
Yeah. So thank you for being here and you know not everyone listening to this podcast is going to identify as part of the community, but we all share. We are all part of the community at large and so can we talk about allyship and what that means? What does it mean to be an ally? How would you define that?
00:18:36 George Wallace
Sure.
00:18:41 George Wallace
Yeah.
00:18:45
Sure.
00:18:49 George Wallace
So I think you know understanding and listening with an open mind and heart just be open to listening and just being a kind human being, right? Like, and I think most people are, you know, and I think sometimes.
00:19:06 Laurie Crocker
MHM.
00:19:09 George Wallace
You know, you hear things and if you don't understand then then simply just ask. And at the end of the day, we're all human and we just happen to be LGBTQ, right? So we're no, we're no different than any other person.
00:19:25 Laurie Crocker
I think that it's important to say that no matter what your cause is.
00:19:30 Laurie Crocker
You need. You need to do it together. There needs to be collaboration, partnership.
00:19:32 George Wallace
Yeah.
00:19:34 Laurie Crocker
And you need to stretch outside your community and inside your community and to make it happen so completely agree.
00:19:38 George Wallace
Yeah.
00:19:41 George Wallace
Yeah. And sometimes people just don't understand because there are a lot of, you know, subcultures within the gay community. A lot of times, you know, and there are a lot of, there are a lot of acronyms and letters, and sometimes people don't understand what is the cue, what is the plus, what is, you know, what is the IA 2 S's mean? Because I could go on because there's a lot. But if you don't know.
00:20:03 George Wallace
Just ask.
00:20:04 Laurie Crocker
Just ask. Yeah, I think that's a great, just personal policy. Maybe to go by. Yeah. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the history of the hours program that you have. I know there's a little bit of history, and if you're able to back it up a little bit, so we know how it was created and then how it became part.
00:20:13
Sure.
00:20:18
Sure.
00:20:21 Laurie Crocker
Of the center. So.
00:20:23 George Wallace
The hours program, which was formerly OUAC, which was Orlando United Assistance Center, was formed in the wake of the Pulse tragedy in 2016.
00:20:32 George Wallace
And it was formed by Orange County government, Osceola County government, the city of Orlando, the heart of Florida United Way and the Central Florida Foundation. They got together and.
00:20:43 George Wallace
Had this amazing program and it was to serve those that were impacted by the Pulse tragedy, whether you were a, a survivor or a family member or first responder to be able to get the mental health care and support that you need as well as targeted case management.
00:21:03 George Wallace
And sometimes financial assistance, and in 2021, that collaborative turned over the daily operations to.
00:21:11 George Wallace
Of the center and we have managed that program ever since.
00:21:15 Laurie Crocker
And how has that gone? Because I know that we talked about it and it's been more and more challenging to once again going back to that elephant in the room to find funding for.
00:21:26 George Wallace
It sure so has not been funded through any type of the state, certainly hasn't assisted.
00:21:35 George Wallace
We do have really great partners in Orange County and the City of Orlando, and we rely generously on donations from individuals, but it's a program that I really believe we need to continue, right? So.
00:21:50 George Wallace
We served far more clients, of course in 2016 and 20/17/2018, but we're serving about 92 now, which is a pretty big number in in relative consensus of it being a a mass tragedy, right. So there are still 92 people that are coming to us on a regular basis.
00:22:09 George Wallace
That need our services and as long as there's one.
00:22:13 George Wallace
I want to keep this program.
00:22:14 George Wallace
Going.
00:22:15 Laurie Crocker
And it's focused on mental.
00:22:16 Laurie Crocker
Health.
00:22:17 George Wallace
Mental health and case management and and navigating resources. And because financial assistance, let's face it, even if we had the capacity to do that, it could be really cost prohibitive for nonprofit. So linking people to rental assistance and, you know, medical bills and things like that.
00:22:22
MHM.
00:22:37 George Wallace
Because.
00:22:39 George Wallace
People have bills, especially as it relates to the Pulse tragedy, ongoing medical care and ongoing mental health. So anything that we can do to help alleviate that, we're going to do.
00:22:48 Laurie Crocker
MHMM.
00:22:49 Laurie Crocker
And when it comes to your work, are there any key collaborations or partnerships that you feel like have been worthwhile and really helpful to your clients?
00:23:03 George Wallace
Yeah, you know the the heart of Florida United Way is a really big partner and they had funding and it was emergency federal funding for housing assistance and food insecurity. And we were able to help 111 clients last year.
00:23:21 George Wallace
Their pay rent and get food in there on the table. So partnerships like that are always great. Kroger is a great partner with our food bank. They help provide, you know, canned vegetables and tuna and all of the the things that when you're going to a food bank that you get the bags of rice. So the city of Orlando and Osceola County.
00:23:41 George Wallace
Government and Orange County government have all been instrumental in helping elevate the services and the organization and the Central Florida Foundation is also a great partner.
00:23:54 Laurie Crocker
Yeah, we.
00:23:57 Laurie Crocker
I've got a question and this is a this is, you said.
00:24:00 Laurie Crocker
I just ask so this is me just asking so you is do you think that your clients who come to you would they go to you for for food assistance because they feel most comfortable with the center versus just going directly to a food bank or OK?
00:24:02 George Wallace
Yeah.
00:24:16 George Wallace
Yeah, yeah, I think you know, the center is a safe space and you can be your authentic self. And sometimes when you are going through a transition or you know whatever it may be, you know that you can come to the center and we're not going to judge.
00:24:35 George Wallace
You and I think that that's why we see so many people come through our doors and also going back to allyship. Above 40% of the people that we serve do not identify as LGBTQ. So that's because of the food bank. That's also because of mental health and also our HIV testing program. So.
00:24:55 George Wallace
We're a Community Center at the end of the day and we're open to everyone, so it it's. I've actually answered the phone. I was like, hey, I I want to come down because I saw you have this great service or this great group.
00:25:09 George Wallace
I don't have to be gay, right? And I'm like, no, we don't. Actually, we don't ask you. So yeah. So we can just come in and we're gonna, we're gonna serve you and you know. And if you need something, we're going to give you a referral. And if we offer that program, whether it be, you know, job assistance or legal counseling.
00:25:28 George Wallace
Whatever it may be, immigration, we're going to link you to that service. If if we can.
00:25:36 Laurie Crocker
George mentioned Central Florida Foundation as a partner in the early days of this program. As a reminder, that's us. We're a Central Florida foundation. The creators of this podcast. Let's take this opportunity now, then to shift gears and discuss the role that the foundation has played in the past and the big picture role of philanthropy.
00:25:56 Laurie Crocker
When it comes to tragedies such as the one Central Florida experienced in 2016, listen into a conversation with Sandi Vidal, the Foundation's vice president of Community strategies and initiatives.
00:26:12 Sandi Vidal
You know, I think what's really important to consider in all of this is that we're not looking at people as being part of a particular community. When we did our community and social conversations, looking at different aspects of our community.
00:26:30 Sandi Vidal
And the different types of people and populations that that represents, you know, we we kind of divided into groups by, you know, ethnicity or where people identify as and things like that. Just to really understand where they were coming from and what experiences they had that were.
00:26:51 Sandi Vidal
Different from maybe other people, what we found was there was a lot of commonality across.
00:26:56 Sandi Vidal
The different issues that people were were experiencing, but there's some historical things that make that different. There's cultural things that make that different. But I think for the foundation, the way that we look at people is their people and what we're trying to do is help to solve some of the underlying social issues.
00:27:18 Sandi Vidal
That are affecting those people and you know the biggest thing that.
00:27:22 Sandi Vidal
This, you know, resonates with me, is that we are a foundation that respects people, no matter who they are, where they come.
00:27:30 Laurie Crocker
From kind of agree more and in the aftermath of the pulse shooting, the foundation created the Better Together fund. So can you talk a little bit about?
00:27:43 Laurie Crocker
How that came to be? And then also the?
00:27:45 Laurie Crocker
Goals of it.
00:27:47 Sandi Vidal
So the way it came about was originally when we were talking with the city of Orlando, we were looking at one fund, but we realized where the mayor realized along the way that a compensation fund was going to be necessary.
00:28:02 Sandi Vidal
There were some corporate donors and some local donors that were interested in that longer term approach versus the compensation. And so we realized very quickly that it really needed to be two funds. And so the city of Orlando went forward with the compensation fund because.
00:28:21 Sandi Vidal
Foundations like ours generally don't do grants directly to people. We do grants to organizations, and so we step back. The city took that piece on, and there were millions of dollars that were distributed through a very democratic process with professional advisors.
00:28:41 Sandi Vidal
But what we wanted to look at was some of the more pressing issues we wanted to look at things that were really.
00:28:53 Sandi Vidal
Underpinning the immediate needs, an example of that would be.
00:28:59 Sandi Vidal
The tragedy happened in June, but the compensation fund didn't pay out till September and so people who were traumatized, who were injured, who were not able to go back to work.
00:29:13 Sandi Vidal
They didn't necessarily have the funds to make it to September, and so we partnered with the United Way and their United Way Assistance Center, the Orlando United Assistance Center, to provide dollars that they could use to pay bills. And so that was one of those immediate.
00:29:33 Sandi Vidal
Needs for people where.
00:29:34 Sandi Vidal
Where they were able to take those dollars and not have all of the restrictions on them that they might have if they were using government dollars, they were able to pay room rent or pay for car payment or insurance or books for school or groceries. Just what whatever was needed.
00:29:55 Sandi Vidal
We were able to work with them on that. We also wanted to look at the underlying issues and what caused this to happen in first place. It was a hate crime, for lack of better term.
00:30:06 Sandi Vidal
And it was targeted at a specific population. And so we really wanted to look at what were some of the underlying factors that came into that. And so we actually brought in somebody from Barry University, Dr. Ashley Austin and she taught several classes around cultural competency.
00:30:28 Sandi Vidal
Because one of the things we also saw was that we had a lot of mental health counselors. We didn't have a lot of mental health counselors that spoke Spanish, and we didn't have a lot of mental health counselors that were familiar with some of the nuances around the LGBTQ plus community. Whenever a tragedy happy.
00:30:44 Sandi Vidal
And there are going to be people who are affected in this particular case, there were a lot of intersecting things that happened. It was a, it was Hispanic night or Latin night at the nightclub. It was LGBTQ plus facing nightclub. There were people there who were not LGBTQ, plus they were.
00:31:04 Sandi Vidal
Allies. There were people who were not out in the community. There were people whose parents didn't know that they were gay.
00:31:10 Sandi Vidal
Uh. And so there were a lot of things that happened as a result of that. And there's a lot of things that you just can't anticipate. And so that was one of the other areas that we focused is what we couldn't anticipate because we didn't know what we didn't know. And so we wanted to be able to take care of those immediate needs.
00:31:30 Sandi Vidal
We wanted to be able to take care of underlying conditions, but we also wanted to look at what is it that we don't anticipate and you know a lot of that cultural intersection and.
00:31:45 Sandi Vidal
You know, some of the things that happen as a result of that were things that we couldn't have.
00:31:49 Sandi Vidal
Expected.
00:31:52 Laurie Crocker
After hearing from Sandy about how Central Florida Foundation supported our community through the Better Together fund, we're reminded of the foundations core belief that progress comes from bold ideas, collaboration and community rooted innovation. At CFF, we're always looking for promising.
00:32:11 Laurie Crocker
New approaches that reimagine how we care for one another and solve complex issues together, which brings us to our next conversation, Yasmin Flasterstein and Peer Support Space are doing just that. The organization's new offering, Eva's Casita, is more than a program. It's a reimagined model of care.
00:32:31 Laurie Crocker
Based on data designed for those who might slip through the cracks of our healthcare system.
00:32:39 Yasmin Flasterstein
My name is Yasmin Flasterstein, I use she or they pronouns I am the co-founder and executive director of peer support space. 
00:32:59 Yasmin Flasterstein
Yeah, so peer support space is a community of people with lived experience navigating mental health struggles, so that whatever someone's navigating, they don't have to navigate it alone. We're completely non clinical spaces where it's OK to not be OK and no one's trying to fix, analyze or diagnose you or just really here to hold space. So whatever you're navigating.
00:33:20 Yasmin Flasterstein
Don't have to navigate it alone. Peer support space is predominantly in Central Florida. We have one of our main programs, Evis Casita is in Orlando on the outskirts of downtown Orlando. We do have in person resources all over Orange County as well as recently Brevard.
00:33:37 Yasmin Flasterstein
County and then our virtual resources are actually used in 22 states in 18 countries. So we do have a little bit of a national and even international presence. But our home is Central Florida. Yeah. So I always wanted peer support space to exist.
00:33:58 Yasmin Flasterstein
I don't think it was ever that I wanted to run an organization by any means, but I've spent a lot of my life really upset about the gaps in the mental health system and.
00:34:07 Yasmin Flasterstein
My passion really came from a place of these are the issues and educating about the issues. When I started learning about these peer LED organizations that were really common in other states, it made so much sense and it let me channel a lot of that anger and passion into tangible solutions. So I worked in the mental health response to the pulse tragedy.
00:34:30 Yasmin Flasterstein
And what we saw was that there's pre-existing issues in our mental health system, especially for folks that have intersecting identity.
00:34:36 Yasmin Flasterstein
These so for the pulse tragedy, it was mostly LGBTQ plus and either black or Latinx individuals. And it was really hard to find culturally competent traditional mental health resources for them. There was a lot of history of distrust of our mental health system, and for a lot of reasons, people just turn to one another and.
00:34:56 Yasmin Flasterstein
At the time, I didn't have the language, but that's peer support people helping people, nobody you know coined peer support, but I started learning that there's this entire field where people can turn to one another and it's so valuable because.
00:35:11 Yasmin Flasterstein
Our mental health system people fall between the gaps. Really, no matter who they are. But when you do have these intersecting, marginalized identities, it's that much harder to find, care and no one's gonna understand the cultural nuances of a community like a community itself.
00:35:29 Laurie Crocker
So talking about.
00:35:31 Laurie Crocker
Eva's casita. Is it Eva or Eva? I.
00:35:33 Laurie Crocker
Feel like I'm saying it wrong.
00:35:34 Yasmin Flasterstein
So she would not correct you. Like if you said Eva she would be like yes but like.
00:35:37 Laurie Crocker
OK, so do.
00:35:38 Laurie Crocker
You.
00:35:40 Yasmin Flasterstein
She's, you know, Puerto Rican. So I'm like, it's Eva. And she's like, that's correct too. So really either in respect to her is correct, I.
00:35:41 Laurie Crocker
OK.
00:35:43 Laurie Crocker
It's OK.
00:35:48 Laurie Crocker
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. OK. So Eva's Casita Sandi and our team at the foundation shared that you, anytime I you come into conversation. She has an incredible model. You have to ask her about the history and how she came up with this model. Well, she had mentioned that you had done a lot of research. You visited other models around the country. So can you talk a little bit about that process and how you developed and also what it is?
00:36:04 Yasmin Flasterstein
Yeah. So when I started learning about peer LED organizations, the thing I was most interested in was really the pure respites. So there's over 42 in our nation.
00:36:24 Yasmin Flasterstein
So it's actually really common in other states, but we're the only pure respite of our kind in Florida. So it's entirely novel and new here. But what it is, is an alternative to to psychiatric hospitalization. Right now, we have a system where we really focus on crisis.
00:36:41 Yasmin Flasterstein
This so I'm doing really bad. I need to get away. You end up going to residential treatment often for three days or whatever your insurance will approve to get sent right back out. I think in physical healthcare we really understands that prevention is important, right? But with mental health it's like we don't go up the river.
00:37:02 Yasmin Flasterstein
And see why people keep ending up here in the same way. And a lot of times people are hospitalized not because it's a good fit for what they're going through, but it's the only option. And and people really deserve.
00:37:16 Yasmin Flasterstein
Right. But a lot of times I explain it instead of an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization, it's like a bed and breakfast for big feelings. So you can come for a week for free. You get your own room, you can come and go as you want. So it doesn't require a disruption from work or school in order to stay. And a lot of us.
00:37:36 Yasmin Flasterstein
Our one paycheck away from not making our bills, you know? So it's also, you know, we we really sent her. Why can people not get care and everything we did to create this space. And I think we can all relate to things like.
00:37:51 Yasmin Flasterstein
Needing to stare at a wall for three days, but the reality is if you did that at a psychiatric hospital, you might be labeled non compliant. You might even be forced medication, but it's human to just need a break from our home environment. But unless you have the financial means to do that, a lot of people can't, or a lot of people need that, but they need it with.
00:38:12 Yasmin Flasterstein
Just a little bit of structure so.
00:38:15 Yasmin Flasterstein
There are ongoing activities people can do on their own or with us. We have all sorts of ways people can communicate nonverbal communication bracelets that let us know. I want to say to myself right now, I want to socialize. I want a one to one when available, there's trained peer supporters that have lived experience that are there 24/7.
00:38:35 Yasmin Flasterstein
And then there's also scheduled activities that are also optional. That's just for people like me that like I understand, I can watch wicked.
00:38:43 Yasmin Flasterstein
At any time, but unless you're like, we are watching wicked at 7:00 PM like I just. I don't know how to take a break. Like, I genuinely have been. Go, go, go my whole life to where? When I do get time off, it's really hard for me. So that just like little bit of structure if helpful is there too. But it's just such a beautiful space.
00:38:59
MHM.
00:39:03 Yasmin Flasterstein
But I think at the core of weather.
00:39:05 Yasmin Flasterstein
It's anxiety, depression. Living in this world, living with the racialized identity and microaggressions. There's just this commonality of I feel so alone, and nobody cares about me that I see across a lot of lived experiences and really at its core, that's what we want.
00:39:25 Yasmin Flasterstein
People to know is there are people that don't know you but care about you and they want you to have nice things. There's just so many details in the space. We ask people all about them before they come.
00:39:37 Yasmin Flasterstein
Want to share and like if your favorite color is purple like we're going to.
00:39:40 Yasmin Flasterstein
Sure, every single time we hand you a cup, you're welcome basket. Like we're going to remember your favorite color is purple. If you tell us reminders to eat are helpful, we're gonna put sticky notes around, and we're gonna, you know, let you know. So it's just a really nice space where people can build their support system and and get away and be trusted to know what works for them.
00:40:01 Laurie Crocker
When it comes to how long have you had this program?
00:40:04 Yasmin Flasterstein
For yeah, so Eva's Casita. It took us a long time to open, because when you're the 1st in an area, they're like, what zoning what permitting it. It took us about two years from the time we found the building to actually opening, which let us have a lot of time and intentionality in the.
00:40:12 Laurie Crocker
Right, right.
00:40:22 Yasmin Flasterstein
Cramming. I think what's really nice about people with debilitating anxiety is we think of everything.
00:40:28 Yasmin Flasterstein
So they're so detailed, but we've actually been open for a year now. Actually last week we have officially been open for a.
00:40:33 Laurie Crocker
OK.
00:40:37 Laurie Crocker
Year. So during that time, a year goes by, can you share with me any pivots you've had to make or anything that arose where you didn't expect it?
00:40:47 Laurie Crocker
And you worked maybe.
00:40:49 Yasmin Flasterstein
Collaboratively or in a way to pivot or accommodate or fill in the blank? Yeah, I think I I keep being really amazed at, you know, it's everything we were hoping it would be for folks. But then there's so many situations that I'm like, wow, this does make sense for that. So like, for example.
00:41:11 Yasmin Flasterstein
You know, we've partnered with a nurse that supports people that have had miscarriages and she shares about the Casita because they can come after stay with us for a few days while their loved ones clear the crib and all the baby clothes and everything from.
00:41:24 Yasmin Flasterstein
Home, but it kind of allows for people that otherwise fall through the cracks to have a space to go, which has been really cool. But of course, you know, with any new program, there's a bunch of like, scheduling stuff and logistics stuff that you just don't really know until you know. But having people that have lived experience.
00:41:45 Yasmin Flasterstein
Be the ones to finesse. The program has really made it something very detailed and and special.
00:41:53 Laurie Crocker
How? Uh, as far as success of the program, for example, are you finding that the need is greater than what you have to offer at the Casita? Is there hopes to maybe replicate this model somewhere? Oh yeah, there. You know, I think part of why we put so.
00:42:14 Yasmin Flasterstein
Oh yeah, there. You know, I think part of why we put so, I mean, we're going to put so much love into it because we care, but we really wanted this to be a flexible blueprint that could be replicated. So there are a lot of peer respites all over our nation, while not in Florida, but ours is unique in that we center communities that historically fall through the cracks of our mental health system.
00:42:33 Yasmin Flasterstein
And that is something that is needed. We've actually had people quite often probably at least one person per month that flies from another state because think about it. When you go to residential treatment like the IT, it's gendered, there's a a male hallway and a female hallways like where do you go if you're non binary, where do you go if you're trans?
00:42:53 Yasmin Flasterstein
If you're an immigrant or you're undocumented like you, you might not want. You know, your information in a system, and so you just don't reach out for care. So, like, really, who are the people that are falling through the cracks?
00:43:06 Yasmin Flasterstein
And making sure that their thought of and everything that we do, but really the hope for us is that there could be a peer respite in every community. You know, we only have 3 rooms, so we stay pretty full and there's really a need for many pure respite. So that that's our hope is that we really collect.
00:43:26 Yasmin Flasterstein
Valuable data. We really do it in an organized way to where this can be replicated, whether it's by us or by somebody else. We just really believe in the need for pure respites and the need for compassionate, holistic alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization.
00:43:43 Laurie Crocker
When it comes to thinking about the broader landscape within Central Florida, what would you say are maybe some spaces where we're doing it right? Right now we're going in the right direction and then maybe some spaces that need a little extra attention or you hope to have a focus on.
00:44:02 Yasmin Flasterstein
Moving forward, yeah, I mean, Central Florida is awesome. We really set the example right, you know where.
00:44:13 Yasmin Flasterstein
Sticking up for LGBTQ plus communities in a way that the rest of the state isn't, we do talk about mental health. We do talk about these different things that are important, but I think it's really taking a harder, deeper look and saying, well, are these conversational conversations intersectional right? Like who is at the table?
00:44:33 Yasmin Flasterstein
For people with lived experience, a part of this dialogue.
00:44:37 Yasmin Flasterstein
So I think we're definitely in a lot of ways starting to head in the right direction, but we also, you know we we could push that limit a little bit, especially when it comes to peer support. It's something when I started peer support space six years ago, people didn't know what peer support was, it was, there was a lot of stigma to it, a lot of education.
00:44:58 Yasmin Flasterstein
As needed, people were like this is sick people helping sick people, like people were really upset. They thought we were trying to.
00:45:06 Yasmin Flasterstein
You know, take away traditional mental health resources, which couldn't be further from the truth. They really complement each other beautifully, and there is a lot of training for peer supporters and and all of that. But what I'm seeing now is because peer support is being talked about so much, you know, this is a a movement that started in the 70s and the civil rights movement.
00:45:25 Yasmin Flasterstein
And was really for us by us, not about us without us, right.
00:45:28 Yasmin Flasterstein
Right, but now you see these very clinical spaces starting peer support programs that are not supervised by peers, you know. So while I'm really excited that people are really starting to talk about peer support, I think it's really important to stay authentic to, you know, the center of our movement.
00:45:49 Laurie Crocker
Yasmin's belief in the power of the peer support model reminds us that community-led solutions can reach where traditional systems sometimes.
00:45:59 Laurie Crocker
Woven together, we might just have a system of care that reaches everyone supports every scenario and brings US one step closer to a healthy and thriving community for all.
00:46:10 Laurie Crocker
Now let's shift back to another voice of the foundation, one I'm very excited for you to hear Neil Rios Laverde, the foundations philanthropic relationship manager, sat down with me to share why he says he's a product of philanthropy and his experience of transforming a club when he was in high school.
00:46:30 Laurie Crocker
That not only exceeded expectations, but.
00:46:33 Laurie Crocker
And LED to a career where community is not just something that he serves, but he knows it's something that you build 1 relationship at a time.
00:46:44 Neil Rios Laverde
My name is Neil Rios Laverde. I am originally from Colombia but have been living in Orlando since I was 8.
00:46:52 Neil Rios Laverde
Years old, I am currently the philanthropic relationship manager at the Central Florida Foundation and also proud to be a part of Central Florida's thriving LGBTQ plus community.
00:47:05 Laurie Crocker
I'll just.
00:47:06 Laurie Crocker
Say what it is. You were the one who came to me and said, what about this topic? So I thought, yeah. And this came together so quickly. It was really interesting because every single it never happens that when I reach out to people for this podcast, it happens quickly, seamlessly and every single person was like, yes, I'm in. So.
00:47:26 Laurie Crocker
Within.
00:47:27 Laurie Crocker
What less than a week I've I'm we're we're recording this this topic, so I love it. Happened really quickly. It came together in in such a lovely way. So thank you for suggesting this topic so.
00:47:32 Neil Rios Laverde
Yeah.
00:47:34 Neil Rios Laverde
I love it.
00:47:40 Laurie Crocker
Something piqued my interest. When you were talking about your space, because I will say that you did not volunteer yourself to be on the podcast. But I thought obviously I think you would be incredible to talk to because you consider yourself a product of philanthropy. Can you explain what that means to?
00:47:56 Neil Rios Laverde
Of course. So the reason I consider myself a product of philanthropy is for two reasons. One, it help me get through college and allowed me to be where I am now in my career. And two, it actually really helped me build community. So philanthropy.
00:48:16 Neil Rios Laverde
Towards the LGBTQ plus community really did help me build a community here in Central Florida as well to expand on how it helped me get through college when I was.
00:48:28 Neil Rios Laverde
Starting college, I was stuck in a decision.
00:48:32 Neil Rios Laverde
Of.
00:48:33 Neil Rios Laverde
How do I pay for this and at the time I had a really good mentor who believed in scholarships and you know, you don't always have to go for the big guys. You can also look at local scholarships. So I started looking into it and what I after some deep research.
00:48:50 Neil Rios Laverde
I actually learned that there are a lot of opportunities.
00:48:53 Laurie Crocker
And can you tell me what you mean by?
00:48:55 Neil Rios Laverde
Deep research. Well, I really had to look for the opportunities. It's not that like there was a hub saying.
00:49:01 Neil Rios Laverde
If you are part of the LGBTQ community here, it is not even a Google search. Help me find the little guys. I really had to go to the nonprofits where I asked or I looked up online and really dug in, but I had to really do the research. Essentially. It's not like it was straight up.
00:49:20 Laurie Crocker
In my face, and I will say, just knowing you as a person.
00:49:23 Laurie Crocker
You are proactive and not every high school student is as proactive as you are. So for you to have been a project of philanthropy, it's a little bit based on the person and how much they want to dig, it seemed.
00:49:39 Laurie Crocker
Like.
00:49:39 Neil Rios Laverde
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that is the case for scholarship still to this day, I do think we should have a little bit more access to that, but I can talk about that later. But to continue what I was saying is.
00:49:51 Neil Rios Laverde
When I started my position here at the Central Florida Foundation, which gave me a lens of philanthropy that was much more different from what your average person perceives it at, since I'm in the weeds of it, it really made me realize that it is those individual donors and families, and even some corporations as well that.
00:50:12 Neil Rios Laverde
Are willing to fund or invest into a specific cause in my. In my experience, the LGBTQ plus community that it's because of those individuals that people like me get impacted in a positive way and I never realized that while I am in this position because of the philanthropist that were.
00:50:32 Neil Rios Laverde
Would have fund the scholarships that got me through college. That was a very interesting moment of realization because.
00:50:40 Neil Rios Laverde
When you get a scholarship, you don't really think about what happens in the back end. You're just so excited that you're getting school paid for and everything. But being in this position, I really saw the value in those folks that really care and that are really willing to do it. And that's when I started saying, you know what, I am a product of philanthropy. It's because of those donors.
00:51:01 Neil Rios Laverde
That funded the scholarships that got me through college that I don't have to worry about college loans or student debt, right student?
00:51:10 Laurie Crocker
Debt. Yeah, and oof.
00:51:13 Laurie Crocker
As someone who had student, yes, that's it. I don't experience it, but it sounds like it would be amazing to graduate.
00:51:16
Yeah.
00:51:20 Neil Rios Laverde
Without debt it it really is, and sometimes it's weird because most of my friends and peers, they have a student loan of some sort, large or small, and when I get to say I don't have any, I always think.
00:51:34 Neil Rios Laverde
And say thank you, even though they're not hearing me. But thank you to those donors who did take the time to be strategic about where they're putting their money because because of that, I am.
00:51:45 Neil Rios Laverde
A few steps ahead versus other people, but again, it's because of their generosity that helped me get here. I would also say I'm a product of philanthropy because.
00:51:57 Neil Rios Laverde
Throughout college, I really wanted to. Well, I'll first. I'll start with this. A lot of scholarships are tied with some sort of responsibility, right? Whether it's keeping up your grades. In my case, a lot of it was community involvement. Because of that, I started really thinking, OK, how can I get more involved in the community? And that's when I started approaching.
00:52:17 Neil Rios Laverde
Some of the local nonprofits in the community to with some of my own ideas but also saying.
00:52:22 Neil Rios Laverde
I mean, hey, if there's anything I can do, how can I be of, you know, of help and how can I help you with your mission and that right there is what introduced me to a wide network of people within the LGBTQ plus community that you wouldn't meet elsewhere in other spaces that people from my community usually meet, which.
00:52:44 Neil Rios Laverde
Is usually the bar, the gay.
00:52:45 Neil Rios Laverde
Bars.
00:52:46 Neil Rios Laverde
So within this space, it allowed me to have a different side of the LGBTQ plus community.
00:52:52 Neil Rios Laverde
That connected me to new folks that presented me new opportunities and that really helped me build communities. So it's a product, I would say I'm a product philanthropy because it helped me get through it, help me get my education, which opened so many doors, but also white in my network of of friends and professionals, that helped me get to where I am.
00:53:13 Neil Rios Laverde
Day.
00:53:14 Laurie Crocker
Yeah. And if we go back in time a little bit before all of these scholarships in college and whatnot, you were a leader in your high school local high school. You were a leader of your schools, GSA's gay, straight alliance. So can you share with me a little bit about your?
00:53:31 Laurie Crocker
Experience with that.
00:53:33 Neil Rios Laverde
I was in high school. I remember the first GSA meeting that I went to and I remember saying.
00:53:40 Neil Rios Laverde
I'm never coming back to this and the reason for that was because it had no structure. It didn't really seem like they had a mission or a specific goal that they wanted to accomplish, and that's what kind of drifted me into other high school clubs like key club and then in key club. They were really focused.
00:54:00 Neil Rios Laverde
And leadership development.
00:54:01 Laurie Crocker
And can you pause and?
00:54:02 Laurie Crocker
For me is key club specifically about leadership development. What's?
00:54:06 Neil Rios Laverde
Key Club is about leadership and community service, so they focus on those two. So they do a lot of volunteering and if you want to take that extra step, you could go to their conferences and summits and they do a lot of leadership training and it it's composed of different things such as you know how to manage a club, how to work with other students. If you're an officer.
00:54:25 Neil Rios Laverde
And in my opinion, the most important public speaking, right, if you want to be a leader, you really got to learn how to communicate your message. So when I had.
00:54:33 Neil Rios Laverde
Two years into key club, I really thought there was an opportunity to make something more out of the gay straight alliance and I kind of took all the the things that I learned through the leadership experience in key club and applied it towards the gay straight alliance and made it more structured. And I would say also more exciting.
00:54:53 Neil Rios Laverde
For students to come, so when? And not only that, but I also really focused on having a lot of allies because usually the club is only composed of members of the LGBTQ plus community. But I thought it would be really cool and really important to show the school and.
00:55:11 Neil Rios Laverde
And LGBTQ students at Colonial High School that you know what? You're not alone. It's not just LGBTQ plus community. You have people who are in athletics. You have people who are in different parts of the school that are here for you. So I really put emphasis on that. Also put a lot of emphasis on volunteering just because we all need those volunteer hours to.
00:55:32 Neil Rios Laverde
To get access to those opportunities for college and scholarships and so. And then another component that I thought was going to be very and it was very valuable was speakers. I wanted people to bring in different perspectives, so I brought local politicians. I remember I had brought Carlos Guajardo Smith to speak, you know, and and his journey and what it was like to be.
00:55:53 Neil Rios Laverde
In politics as a as a gay Latino man and then and another very impactful meeting that we had that I will never forget was when I brought my mom to speak at the club about our coming out experience, which was still very fresh. I had come out, junior end of junior year and this was happening in my senior year.
00:56:15 Neil Rios Laverde
So it was hard to convince my mom, but I really made her. See.
00:56:19 Neil Rios Laverde
Hey.
00:56:20 Neil Rios Laverde
We got through this and by sharing our story, I can promise you you're gonna make a difference in someone's life. You're gonna make someone stay. And precisely. That's what it was. That was probably one of our biggest meetings in attendance wise. Because and people that I never thought I would see in that room. And I remember the Q and a portion of it.
00:56:40 Neil Rios Laverde
Was very interactive. Everyone had a question and even after the meeting had ended, there was a line of students.
00:56:48 Neil Rios Laverde
Crying, wanting to talk to my mom. Just trying to get advice on, you know? How should I come out? When is the right time or just kind of wanting to talk to someone that is an apparent figure and giving them input, right?
00:57:01 Laurie Crocker
And and I think it's it's OK to mention, I can cut this out if you want me to that it was a you're coming out story wasn't
00:57:11 Laurie Crocker
All rainbows and butterflies. It was. It was challenging for your mom included. And so she had a unique perspective of kind of getting through the leads of it all and coming around to being and now really supportive mother. And so I'm sure it was a really attractive.
00:57:30 Laurie Crocker
Thing for a lot of people who hadn't come out yet to say, OK, this is Neil's mom is someone who maybe had a harsh reaction at first, but has come around to the other side. And I'm sure that was really inspiring to hear. Of course.
00:57:45 Neil Rios Laverde
Well, I went to Colonial High School. It's predominantly Latino and.
00:57:51 Neil Rios Laverde
My mom is Latina, so I think that clicked immediately for a lot of the students, and that's probably why we had such a high attendance. That meeting. But absolutely, you're right, it was not easy. We none of us were born here, and my family, my family, migrated here all together. So we have a lot of those components that a lot of people.
00:58:12 Neil Rios Laverde
From different cultures, right?
00:58:15 Neil Rios Laverde
Are challenged by right, but when it's religion, you know, disappointing. I think for my mom the hardest thing was she was afraid that people were gonna be disappointed or they were gonna put me to the side for coming out. And I think what we really learned together, that was really hard is that we had to do it together like she had to also come out as a mom of someone who has a gay son.
00:58:36 Neil Rios Laverde
And that was really hard, but it started. I noticed things started healing like we started healing when she would come to me excited.
00:58:42 Neil Rios Laverde
Saying, Oh my God, I just told so and so that you were gay.
00:58:45 Neil Rios Laverde
And I was like, that's.
00:58:47 Neil Rios Laverde
Amazing. And I'm happy that you're happy about that instead of ashamed. So it was a beautiful journey that we, I I knew it had so much value and that's why I wanted to bring that perspective to the GSA. So back to the GSA.
00:59:02 Neil Rios Laverde
That that's what I wanted to do. I wanted it to be meaningful. I wanted people to learn about lived experiences, but also get things, get experiences that would help them too in their academics as well. So.
00:59:13 Neil Rios Laverde
So that was that was a great experience and that I will say that also did set me up for success to get these scholarships as well, and that's what I also wanted for the students. I was trying to make sure.
00:59:25 Neil Rios Laverde
That.
00:59:25 Neil Rios Laverde
The students got the experience as they needed so that they can be set up post high school because I know it's really hard to.
00:59:33 Neil Rios Laverde
Get into college or get any scholarships without anything under your.
00:59:36 Neil Rios Laverde
Belt.
00:59:38 Laurie Crocker
I know you. We wanted to kind of address one of the I asked you what were what are some of the issues that you see gaps that you see within the LGBTQ plus community and you would like to see some focus on in the future?
00:59:54 Neil Rios Laverde
I think from my perspective, I've been in Orlando my whole life, right? And I've seen the LGBTQ plus community from the nonprofit perspective grow, especially after the polls tragedy. You know, the philanthropic sector just really grew, especially with CONTIGO fund and a lot of the other nonprofits.
01:00:15 Neil Rios Laverde
That came out of the tragedy.
01:00:16
Yeah.
01:00:17 Neil Rios Laverde
Uh.
01:00:18 Neil Rios Laverde
I think I would like to see more strategic and sustainable investment towards the LGBTQ plus nonprofit space. There are a lot of nonprofits that I see out there that are doing incredible work, and it's such good work that I want to make sure it's there for the long run, right?
01:00:37 Neil Rios Laverde
Like there are a lot of organizations out there that are not just the one and done, they're trying.
01:00:43 Neil Rios Laverde
To solve a larger problem, but I don't think a lot of the organizations may be looking at it from a sustainable point of view. Financial and also leadership, right. You also got to we also got to admit that in the nonprofit sector, turn around maybe a little higher than what we would like it to be.
01:00:51 Laurie Crocker
And you're thinking like.
01:00:53 Laurie Crocker
System.
01:00:55
Hmm.
01:01:04 Neil Rios Laverde
So how can we prepare ourselves not just financially to be sustainable, but a succession plan? Right. So if I'm going to be in this org.
01:01:11 Neil Rios Laverde
Question. How can I make sure that the person after me is going to be as successful or more in running this and growing this and scaling it in terms of gaps? I would also say accessibility to the resources that we have. We have so many resources and I mean I I can attest to that because I I was able to.
01:01:31 Neil Rios Laverde
Take advantage of those resources, but like I did say, it was very challenging to find them. I had to really dig deep and finding those color ship opportunities and leadership opportunities.
01:01:42 Neil Rios Laverde
And I think there are, we are a strong community. I think if we come together and just make sure that we're all sharing each other's opportunities and making sure they're faced front to the right audience. So if it's for students that how are we getting these opportunities to students, right, to take advantage of them so that they can actually.
01:02:00 Laurie Crocker
Excel. Yeah. Didn't you tell me? And we don't have to.
01:02:03 Laurie Crocker
Names but.
01:02:04 Laurie Crocker
I think you told me there was a scholarship that it was closing like the next day. You gave them a call and they were just kind of desperate to have an applicant.
01:02:13 Neil Rios Laverde
Yeah, I I called because I I found a pamphlet when I went to the Zebra coalition and I called them because I saw the deadline was the next day. And I said, hey, can I still submit at my application? I see you guys are closing tomorrow and they said if you overnight, the application will review it and.
01:02:33 Neil Rios Laverde
That was one of the the scholarships that got me through the most.
01:02:38 Laurie Crocker
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You were telling me about that.
01:02:42 Laurie Crocker
Neil's story is a reminder of how the spark of an idea rooted in purpose and supported by community can grow into something transformative. From leading his high school's GSA to building a career in philanthropy, his journey reflects what can happen when collaboration and determination are at the forefront.
01:03:02 Laurie Crocker
Now let's look toward the future.
01:03:06 Laurie Crocker
Looking forward into the future.
01:03:09 Laurie Crocker
You know, as you think about this new generation, what do you hope for them? What do you hope that they continue? What work are you hoping that they pick up the baton and continue working on?
01:03:24 Tom Dyer
Well, I think there are a lot of people out there, a lot of organizations and remarkable people who I think you people have met a lot of who are doing amazing things to promote our community.
01:03:38 Tom Dyer
You know, when I look at at my life and.
01:03:43 Tom Dyer
There was a cost to be paid for not accepting myself and embracing who I was and celebrating that I mean that that really impacts your ability to contribute as a, as a fellow person and to enjoy life and the way we were meant to it, if I.
01:04:03 Tom Dyer
Would wish anything. It would be that as.
01:04:07 Tom Dyer
Kids grow up and start to get a sense of who they are, that they're able to explore that seamlessly and positively and just transition right into, you know, the most exciting and fulfilling adulthood that they could possibly have. I think that's always going to be an issue because.
01:04:26 Tom Dyer
Being queer as you're, you're in a minority. I mean, you're considered different. I know that there's still a lot of teasing and things like that. And so.
01:04:33 Tom Dyer
So anything that could be done on a cultural, governmental level to support kids in that way, I think it's really important and then you know, the last several years have indicated that we have to be diligent that any minority, whether it's based on sexual orientation.
01:04:53 Tom Dyer
Race or religion or whatever it may be, is is vulnerable.
01:04:58 George Wallace
Well, I hope it's easier for them. I know I have it easier than the people who came before me and I just hope that the people that come after me, it gets easier and places like the center will always be needed. But I hope that we don't have to have like a.
01:05:18 George Wallace
A A a gay bar was like I just hope that we have bars and I, you know, it's not just, it's not a gay wedding. It's just a wedding, right? So I just hope things get easier and.
01:05:30 George Wallace
That.
01:05:31 George Wallace
Equality is something that is not gonna be discussed in 10, 20 years because hey, we're all equal, right? And that's why I feel like it's a fight because at this point in time, I don't have the same rights as.
01:05:41 Laurie Crocker
Hmm.
01:05:51 George Wallace
Some of my neighbors have.
01:05:54 Yasmin Flasterstein
Gosh, you know, it's like part of me is like pure sports space of us Casita. It makes so much sense. Obviously, we're going to be here long term, and that's what I want more than anything. But you know, I'll be honest, myself and a lot of LGBTQ organizations right now, we're really worried about surviving this administration financially, capacity wise.
01:06:15 Yasmin Flasterstein
Like it's scary right now, it's almost hard to like. Think about long term and the ways that we were before, you know. So right now I'm really working on I'm, I'm calling it growing our roots, not our branches and sustainability. Yeah, survival. But my my hope for you know.
01:06:27 Laurie Crocker
OK.
01:06:35 Yasmin Flasterstein
Peer support space is that we can develop training that is approved by the state for people to become certified recovery peer specialist so that we make sure that the profession stays representative of the communities that fall through the cracks. Our mental health system.
01:06:53 Yasmin Flasterstein
Because that's who's going to need these resources the most. I hope to have multiple peer respites, and I hope that you know one day we can become a a space where again, LGBTQ plus communities feel safe and affirm.
01:07:10 Laurie Crocker
As we close this episode, as promised, here are three takeaways you can take with you into your day. Number one, we're all people first and foremost at Central Florida Foundation. We recognize that while people may identify with different communities, what unites us is our shared humanity.
01:07:29 Laurie Crocker
Everyone, regardless of how they identify, deserves the opportunity to pursue their own version of a healthy, fulfilling life with a shared sense of.
01:07:38 Laurie Crocker
Community to echo Mark and Sandy were all people first number two, the LGBTQ plus community has shaped the region we all call home from culture and creativity to resilience and civic engagement, the contributions of LGBTQ plus individuals are deeply woven into the story of central.
01:07:59 Laurie Crocker
Florida honoring and respecting those contributions means taking time to listen, asking questions, and leading with curiosity.
01:08:07 Laurie Crocker
Because when we seek to understand one another, we grow stronger together. #3 innovation isn't optional. It's essential meeting the needs of a diverse and evolving region requires new models and bold thinking, whether it's through peer LED care or reimagined systems of support embracing innovation.
01:08:27 Laurie Crocker
Helped close gaps and build a healthy and thriving Central Florida for everyone.
01:08:34 Mark Brewer
Thank you for listening to the podcast. First, you talk as an engaged listener of this show. We encourage you to check out our podcast website at cffound.org/podcast to learn more about the complex issue. There you'll find more context to the voices that you've heard today.
01:08:54 Mark Brewer
Links to any supporting materials mentioned during the episode and resources to help you explore additional perspectives to draw a fuller picture of the issue at hand through curiosity and collaboration, we can all make our community an even better place to call home.
01:09:12 Laurie Crocker
A special thank you to Tom Dyer, George Wallace, Yasmin Flasterstein, Sandi Vidal and Neil Rios Laverde.