Sayaka Ponce, Executive Director of Whittier YouthBuild, organized the first-ever Whittier Pride Festival last month. Though she thought only about 1,000 people would show up, over 5,000 turned out! A special shout-out to our LGBTQ+ students from Whittier YouthBuild, who were the inspiration for creating this event. You can read more about the festival in this fantastic write-up by the L.A. TACO. We are so proud to have educators like Sayaka on our staff who are making a difference in their communities. Reading this article, it was moving to hear what an impact this event had on the LGBTQ+ community in Whittier and the surrounding areas. “There will be Whittier Pride next year in 2020. We will do Pride every year from now on in Whittier until they tell us we can’t anymore,” said Sayaka. You can see photos from the event below.
