Hey Progressives! Catherine here. I had a conversation over social media last evening that made me realize that all these various pages, groups, and organizations we're working on can get a little confusing. What's the difference between NENC Progressives, NENC PrideFest, and PFLAG? What is NENC PrideFest doing now that the event is over? Who is in charge of this new PFLAG chapter? What are all these different social media accounts and email addresses? And when is everything meeting and which meetings should you be going to?!
No worries! Here is the full rundown of what's going on, who everyone is, where you can find us, how you can contact us, and when our meetings are! There is a lot of overlap, so it can definitely be confusing. We're here to help!
SO:
NENC Progressives came first. We are: Christina, president; Joey, vice-president; Lee, treasurer; and Catherine, secretary/social media/website; plus a whole lot of fantastic members! We were established in January 2017 (yeah, right about when Tr*mp was sworn into office) and we've been working to advance Progressive ideals locally and nationally ever since! We organize direct action protests like the March For Our Lives, advocate for minority groups and issues in our local government, occasionally partner with other groups like Black Lives Matter for marches in Hampton Roads, and promote an agenda of anti-racism, environmentalism, LGBTQ+ equality, women's rights, education and healthcare for all, common sense gun reform, and have a generally basic Progressive platform across the board. We also give back to our community by volunteering with the Food Bank, collecting for local charities monthly, and have adopted a city street which we keep clean (look for our sign on Persse St in downtown Elizabeth City!). We meet on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at the Public Safety Building in Elizabeth City (200 E Colonial Avenue, across from the Pasquotank County Library) at 6:30pm. You can find us online here on our website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Email us at ecnc.progressive@gmail.com or nenc.progressives@gmail.com if you'd like to be added to our Google Drive folder to view past meeting minutes/agendas, or sign up for our text reminders by texting @NENCP to the number 81010. If you want to become an official member with voting rights on our group decisions, you can send your application in right here on our website! Just look at the tabs at the top of the page. Our largest-scale project/event to date has been... (drumroll)
NENC PrideFest! PrideFest was on June 24 of this year and it was a terrific day of Pride and connection with our local LGBTQ+ community and supporters. We made so many new friends and had wonderful interactions with the public, local media, and some fantastic vendors and speakers. Catherine took point on organizing this event, and the whole NENC Progressives leadership team and group members really pitched in and made it a fantastic day. As we continue to grow, we hope to make NENC PrideFest its own separate legal entity, but as of right now, PrideFest is still under the NENC Progressives umbrella. We have not started holding planning meetings for NENC PrideFest 2019 yet, but we will be soon! Let us know if you'd like to be involved, we'd love to have your help! In the meantime, NENC PrideFest has its own separate social media presence (also managed by Catherine) to help connect our local LGBTQ+ community and spread the word about other local Queer events and news. To connect, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, email us at nencpridefest@gmail.com, or subscribe to our text alert list by texting @NENCPR to 81010. This is a different text list from the Progressives one - we send out one weekly text with upcoming LGBTQ+ friendly local events! Those events definitely include... (drumroll)
PFLAG Elizabeth City! This group is the newest and most nebulous so far, as it lacks official leadership or official status from PFLAG National headquarters yet. During NENC PrideFest we had the Norfolk/South Hampton Roads chapter of PFLAG present to speak and they also had a table/tent to interact with the community. We had so much interest in starting our own local PFLAG chapter that we decided to go ahead and start meeting! We collected email addresses, asked PFLAG Norfolk for guidance, and found a place to meet monthly. Our first meeting was August 2 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Elizabeth City, and it was a wonderful time of sharing and spreading love for our LGBTQ+ community. We will continue to meet informally for a few months until we have formed an official leadership team, and at that time we can submit our chapter to PFLAG National for approval and begin the 501(c)3 nonprofit paperwork. During this informal beginning time, Catherine is coordinating the members of the group through our NENC PrideFest email list and working with PFLAG Norfolk and Good Shepherd Lutheran to make sure we are able to continue meeting. Since PFLAG is a federally-recognized nonprofit, our new chapter will not be officially affiliated with or sponsored by NENC Progressives (as the Progressives group is a political organization). But as we are getting the ball rolling, the NENC PrideFest social media pages are where you can find info about PFLAG meetings and updates on our status! We are meeting informally on the second Tuesday of each month from now on, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Elizabeth City, at 6:30pm. We would love to have you join us! PFLAG is open to everyone, regardless of political affiliation and whether you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, an ally/supporter, friend, family member, or maybe not quite out of the closet yet! These meetings are 100% confidential and we will never share anything that is said privately within the group meetings.
Hope that helps with the confusion - if you're still not sure what's going on, send us a message at any of the above listed social media sites or email addresses and we'll do our best to help you out! Odds are if you contact any of our social media or email addresses, it'll probably be me (Catherine) who responds. I look forward to connecting with more of you in the future! See you at one of our meetings!