Sat., April 24th 6 & 8pm
We're bringing back our fabulous parking lot drag shows for the spring. Get ready to see your favorite queens tear it up with 2 Saturday evening shows! Get your tickets at diversity-richmond.square.site and we will send you a parking assignment. See you there!
Plans are in the making for Diversity Richmond to partner with the Virginia Department of Health in offering COVID vaccinations in May. The clinic will be held in our event hall. We have hosted a number of COVID testing clinics in the last few months, with hundreds of people coming through our doors.
VDH will also have their community educational teams staff information tables in Diversity Thrift in the weeks leading up to the vaccination clinics. Updates will be forthcoming. Stay tuned.
“My hands are freezing, but my heart is warm.”
~ James Millner, Recent Food Drive
Cold rainy weather did not deter the Diversity Richmond team from once again providing much needed food to over 500 local families last week. Two drives, one at Sacred Heart Center in Manchester and the second at Greenleigh Mobile Home Park in Chesterfield, supplied fresh vegetables, fruit, milk and frozen meats to appreciative families. Also provided were personal hygiene and feminine care products. We also handed out hundreds of facial masks and coloring books.
During the busy activity at Scared Heart, one woman carrying an infant wrapped in a blanket walked up to the site. She had taken a long bus ride from Hull Street Road to the Center in hopes of taking food back in her arms. We invited her inside the Center to keep warm until a volunteer was located to take her, the baby and a week’s supply of groceries back to her apartment.
That is what our food drives are all about. Most of us have never been hungry, but many people are facing severe food shortages and Diversity Richmond continues to address those hardships. Since late last year, we have assisted over 2,300 families.
As with most any Diversity project, it is a collaboration. Special thanks to Feed More who provided thousands of pounds of food to each drive we have conducted. Also thank you to Diaz Foods, Latinos En Virginia, The Laughing Gull Foundation, Sylvia’s Sisters and Kroger.
By supporting Diversity Richmond, you make projects such as this possible. To donate to Diversity, click on to the below link.
Photo above: Chesterfield County Police were instrumental in making the Greenleigh Mobile Home Park food drive a success. They, along with other volunteers, packed frozen foods, vegetables and other food in bags for distribution. They also directed traffic and welcomed guests as they arrived.
Photos below: A sampling of the volunteers who helped with the food drives. Center is Raul Cantu of Diversity Richmond who has coordinated all our drives. There was a steady line of cars all morning waiting for groceries.
It’s now in writing. On March 22nd, the official vote was taken by Virginia Pride membership unanimously deciding to merge with Diversity Richmond. After over a year of research, study and brainstorming, it is official. We are one.
What does this mean? It means that two of the commonwealth’s strongest LGBTQ organizations have joined forces and will combine resources to work harder than ever to improve life for all of us.
If you would like to help with those efforts or would want more information, email us at .
As vaccination distribution continues and percent positivity in the community decrease, the following easements will go into effect at the beginning of next month for our event hall and other entertainment venues in Virginia:
Indoor 30% of capacity or 500 people (whichever is lower).
Outdoor 30% of venue capacity.
Your health and safety is our number one priority as we navigate through the new mitigation measures on gatherings in our 13,000 square foot event hall. We follow all Virginia and CDC guidelines in this facility and also our thrift store, gallery, and offices.
Rental revenue helps fund some of the programs and services at Diversity Richmond. Please keep us in mind for your future party, wedding, reception, special event, trade show, banquet, meeting, or seminar. Our center is centrally located between Hermitage and Brook roads, with ample free parking and easy access from I-95 and I-64. We offer flexible set-up times, A/V equipment, kitchen access for caterers, and our facility can be used for both day and evening events.
The Event Hall adjoins our main parking lot and is fully accessible for special needs visitors. View rental space
Works by Arkansas artist V.L. Cox are currently on display in the virtual exhibition “Watershed” at the Iridian Gallery. The exhibition is a collection of new work and select pieces from her national tour, visible at iridian-gallery.weebly.com and on instagram @iridiangallery. A podcast interview with the artist will launch this weekend on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. The piece pictured above is "Steel Resolve."
Cox’s work, in which she manipulates and combines objects, addresses social justice and the interactions and reflections of a queer woman who was raised in the South. One of her new pieces “Southern Exposure” comes from a self-portrait, where the visual removal of a simple sleep shirt exposes the skin and vulnerabilities that lies beneath.
“Watershed” is rooted in the artist’s belief that the documentation and historical importance of visibility, conversation, and growth lends the potential for understanding and to help mend the wounds of injustice which continues to polarize our communities.
Exhibitions by Erika Diamond, Eric Anthony Berdis and Braxton Congrove remain on display in the gallery at Diversity Richmond until April 10.
Thank you to the students at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for collecting food and hygiene items for our two recent food drives. Can you tell that those are smiling faces behind those masks?
We are pleased to announce a new virtual opportunity for community members age 18+. Diversity Richmond will host a LGBTQ+ hangout group called Talks Under the Umbrella. This will be a new space to build community and discuss different topics. If you have an interest in attending these meetings or would like to be considered as a possible team member to help facilitate meetings, please email us.
This program will collaborate with the efforts of the Bi+ Discussion Group hosted by Metropolitan Community Church. Please visit MCC for meeting information.
The Diversity Richmond Emerging Leaders program is a group for age 21+ that supports our organizational mission through community outreach, programs, and fundraising.
Emerging Leaders will meet with Diversity Richmond board and staff to learn more about our organization and strengthen their knowledge of the LGBTQ+ community throughout Richmond. Participants will act as ambassadors for Diversity Richmond and help us connect with individuals throughout Virginia. Email for more information.
Reclaiming the Monument is a projection mapping project aimed at recontextualizing confederate monuments to help include unrepresented voices. The project was created by Dustin Klein and Alex Crigui as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Pride rainbow was projected on the Lee Monument at the end of the LGBTQ Stonewall Black Lives Matter March. Reclaiming the Monument partnered with Hi-Line Merch Company to size one of the images to raise money for important causes with 100% of proceeds of the two rainbow prints going to Diversity Richmond.
Pictured below are Alex and Dustin with Diversity staff member, Ava Entzminger and board chair, Cheezi Farmer.
Seeking younger people to groom as nonprofit leaders
The Diversity Richmond Emerging Leaders program is a group of people aged 21+ that support our organizational mission through community outreach, programs, and fundraising. Emerging Leaders will meet with Diversity Richmond board and staff to learn more about our organization and strengthen their knowledge of the LGBTQ+ community throughout Richmond. Participants will act as ambassadors for Diversity Richmond and help us connect with individuals throughout Virginia. Email for more information.
We recently celebrated our 5th annual Black & Bold Awards by honoring four outstanding honorees including Charleen Baylor, Stephanie Merlo, Ernest Charles, and Destini Joseph-Barnette. It was also our pleasure to have our keynote speaker Rodney Lofton share his timely remarks. If you missed the event, the entire stream is available for you here.
