We Are Afro Pride!
Community Partners & Collaborations
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Florida Department of Health Broward
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Aids Healthcare Foundation
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HPTN 096 Study
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Our Fund Foundation
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Center for Black Equity
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It's All Grief
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Amethyst Mental Health Agency of Broward
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Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
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Chainless Change
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Abounding Prosperity, Inc.
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The Normal Anomaly Inc.
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History of Afro Pride Federation, Inc
Afro Pride Federation Inc is a community organization that was founded in 2020. (Yes! Right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic). The organization was founded by South Florida native Damon Jones (Clinical Psychotherapist) and Donald Gunder (LGBTQ community organizer). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic not only highlighted how African Americans and the Afrocentric communities were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 but the pandemic also highlighted issues involving exclusion, racism, and discrimination in multiple areas of life needed to survive & thrive (healthcare, mental health, social exclusion, economic exclusion). The African American & Afrocentric LGBTQ+ community represent a smaller percentage of the African American population and related subgroups that endured additional injustices due to the intersection of being Black, BIPOC, & Afrocentric, and LGBTQ+. Injustices such as societal violence, economic hardships, unaffordable healthcare, access to housing, access to mental health & substance abuse services, mistrust in healthcare, exclusion, systematic racism, and multiple types of discrimination.
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We understood in our efforts to eliminate the disparities in South Florida that people of color in the LGBTQ+ community face, we must acknowledge the following:
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Policies agendas that address members of this community must consider intersections of race, class, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity
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Community-driven leadership that highlights a needed change towards the transformation of our economic & social relationships that act as systematic barriers and play a huge role in disproportionately high rates of needs and lack of current community resources in the Black, BIPOC, & Afrocentric LGBTQ+ community in South Florida.
We understood that it would take a community effort to advocate for change, pursue economic justice, and create safe places to heal, celebrate self-love, and save human lives. The community-influenced South Florida Afro Pride Federation, Inc community organization was founded with the aim to execute its mission.
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