Campus Pride celebrates 20 Years of Leadership, Advocacy and Activism

Campus Pride is celebrating its 20th anniversary as the leading national organization dedicated to building future leaders and creating safer, more inclusive communities for LGBTQ people and our allies at colleges and universities. The organization is the preeminent resource for LGBTQ leadership development, diversity inclusion and advocacy within higher education. Founded in 2001 by Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride continues to build on its signature programming while launching innovative new initiatives.

“Our twenty year anniversary is a time to celebrate our collective impact as an organization and the work we have done to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ youth. Our Campus Pride family is strong as we continue to grow and plan for our future,” said Shane Windmeyer, Founder and Executive Director of Campus Pride. “Today we remain committed to our mission in building future leaders and creating safer communities. The work is never done.”

NEW PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES
Throughout 2021, Campus Pride expands its programmatic offerings and will launch new initiatives to further engage youth communities and deepen its impact on campuses across the country, including:

• Campus Pride Career Connect. Campus Pride Career Connect goes beyond the traditional jobs board or career fair, instead offering employers the opportunity to help mentor and develop the LGBTQ talent of tomorrow. Campus Pride Career Connect is a one-stop career engagement portal creating meaningful, authentic relationships between employers and LGBTQ young adults. Launching Fall 2021.

• Social Justice Mini-Grants for Student Leaders. Campus Pride launches a new initiative for student leaders to apply for social justice mini-grants for activism (up to $600) to help further their work to make campuses safer and more welcoming for LGBTQ students. Launching March 2021.

• Campus Pride Map. The Campus Pride Map is the largest, most up-to-date resource of its kind, expanding daily to add new resources to support LGBTQ students across the country. Launching March 2021.

• Campus Pride Alumni & Campus Spotlight Series. Each month, Campus Pride highlights our alumni as well as spotlights the progressive work happening on college and university campuses in supporting LGBTQ students, staff, and faculty. Launched February 2021, Campus Pride first interviewed Romeo Jackson on Instagram Live, and the inaugural Campus Pride Spotlight featured Montclair State University.

BUILDING ON EXISTING PROGRAMS
Campus Pride is a national leader in providing training and resources to improve LGBTQ campus life for students and prospective students alike. This programming forms the backbone of the Campus Pride organization, and we are excited to continue the work throughout the year.

• Camp Pride. Campus Pride’s annual summer leadership camp for LGBTQ students, Camp Pride, is the premier national training academy for social justice and grassroots activism for LGBTQ and ally young adults. Like last year, this year’s Camp Pride will be virtual and a limited number of scholarships are available. Registration opens on March 28, 2021.

• Campus Pride Index. The Campus Pride Index is the premier national benchmarking tool for colleges and universities to create safer, more inclusive campus communities. The free online tool allows prospective students and their families to search a database of LGBTQ-friendly campuses.

• HBCU Clearinghouse. Over the last two decades, Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) have been varied in their implementation of policy, programs, and practices for LGBTQ students. The Campus Pride HBCU Clearinghouse provides the most current policies and implementations for every HBCU in the country, in an effort to highlight and encourage the positive work being done on these campuses.

• Safe Space Trainings. Campus Pride’s Safe Space program is nationally recognized for providing the training and signage for institutions committed to supporting LGBTQ students. Campus Pride offers Safe Space trainings to campus communities, as well as a Train the Trainer program. Trainings will be conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Stop the Hate Program. Campus Pride’s Stop the Hate training program, developed in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, Association of College Unions International, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and the Wilbron Institute, reflects Campus Pride’s commitment to provide social justice tools for combating bias and hate crimes in all forms. Stop the Hate trainings are presented virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campus Pride works annually with more than 1,400 colleges and universities, including two-year and four-year, and both public and private institutions, with 60% of those campuses located in the South and/or in rural areas. The organization’s work directly serves more than 126,000 young adults (ages 18 – 26), and supports 3,600+ staff, faculty, and administrators each year to improve quality of life and the campus climate for LGBTQ youth at campuses across the country.

ABOUT CAMPUS PRIDE
Celebrating its 20th anniversary year in 2021, Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization dedicated to building future leaders and creating safer, more inclusive communities for LGBTQ people and allies at colleges and universities. Founded in 2001 by nationally-recognized LGBTQ civil rights leader and campus pioneer Shane L. Windmeyer, Campus Pride offers a wide variety of programs and resources for students and prospective students, including the Campus Pride Index, HBCU Clearinghouse, Trans Policy Clearinghouse, Lambda 10, Stop the Hate and Safe Space trainings, and the annual Camp Pride leadership camp. www.campuspride.org