LGBTQ+ center thrives in conservative Visalia
Growing up, Alix Carranza didn’t see people that looked like him or sounded like him.
But his life changed in 2018 when Carranza learned about The Source LGBT+ Center, a nonprofit organization that provides support and services to LGBTQ+ individuals in the Central Valley.
“It opened my leadership skills. I joined a Leadership Academy. I looked for support groups and they were able to let me have a voice in a place where I didn’t think that I had one, including at home,” Carranza said, who identifies with the LGBTQ+ community.
Carranza went from being a client searching for support in a heavily conservative area, to becoming one of the 14 staff members at The Source LGBTQ+ Center that provides support and services to the LGBTQ+ community in Tulare and Kings counties.
As a Latino, Carranza said “having that representation here is really important.”
The Source is the biggest LGBTQ+ center between Sacramento and Los Ángeles, providing services to 26,000 people a year. Of those more than half are Latinos and other people of color, according to Nick Vargas, one of the center’s cofounders.
Vargas and cofounder Brian Poth opened the center in 2016.
As a non-profit, The Source has come a long way, expanding from a 500-square-foot office in the basement of a downtown Visalia building when it opened in 2016, to having now close to a 4,000square-foot campus with two buildings.
The Source LGBTQ+ Center is located in the historic Lincoln Oval in downtown Visalia. The center has large meeting spaces, a youth room, trans closet, food pantry, lending library, HIV Services, support groups, and more.
“We’re incredibly proud. We never thought it would get this big,” said Poth, the center’s executive director. “And the size that we are now, we’re able to serve 26,000 people a year, which just blows our minds.”
A PLACE FOR THE LGBTQ IN THE VALLEY
Early this year, Poth and Vargas were the recipients of the 2024 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award and its $350,000 grant that will be used to grow and implement new services.
“We’re just really excited to share this award with our community and just do more good,” Poth said.
Vargas said the award will be use “to bring attention and resources to our community, to the Central Valley, to continue to do the work that we’re doing.”
“I think it really validates the work that we’ve been doing since 2016 till now. It’s a big stamp of approval for us, and we’re really grateful for it,” Vargas said.
“The youth that come through our program, we see them graduate from our program and go away to college and come back, and they want to serve their community as well,” Poth said of the leadership academy.
As a Latino himself, Vargas said having The Source in the Central Valley is important.
“It’s critical, and it’s an honor to be part of this work that serves two communities that I belong to. And, you know, I see the intersections between my identities and the people that we serve,” said Vargas, director of development and strategy for the center.
“And I think people like coming to a place where the people running it are representing what they look like and their experiences and who they are. And so, it’s wonderful to be able to do this work.”
When asked what he would say to his younger self growing up in the Valley, Vargas, who is in his mid-40s, responded: “I would say, everything’s gonna be better than could possibly imagine.”
AN IMPACT IN THE COMMUNITY
Vargas said he didn’t envision how much impact
The Source would have in the community when they started back in 2016.
“No, we didn’t see it. We knew that it was needed, but we didn’t know how needed and how much of an impact we would have, until we started to have it, till those first few groups, you know, till we started to hear the stories from the clients, about lives, improving lives, being saved, people getting the medications they need, parents finding the support they need,” Vargas said. “And then from there, you know, we are grateful that the support, the clients, the funding and the spaces all come together to where we’re now the largest center between Los Ángeles and Sacramento.” Vargas said.
Johnny González moved to the Central Valley in 2016 from southern California and realized there were not as many services for the LGBTQ+ community.
“It was kind of a little bit of a culture shock, because I realized that even at the doctors, they weren’t very LGBTQ competent,” González said. “I’ve noticed that there was a lot less knowledge about LGBTQ terminology, what that means.”
“I could tell that there was almost like a stigma behind saying that your part of the community or that you’re queer around here. There were a lot of people who were not fully out as well, that it was more like a secret,” González said.
González, in his early 30s, learned about The Source and kept up with the nonprofit through social media. He saw a job posting at center and said he “mustered the courage to approach them,” deciding to leave his construction job after 10 years and take a risk that would work out.
“And it did.”
“I am able to use all my experience as being part of the community, everything I’ve gone through to now connect with youth, to be able to connect with people in the community and bring them to The Source to guide them and let them know that we’re here,” González said.
“I could see the transformation in the lives of youth once they find community, once they find people that are like them or have gone through similar experiences. They just blossom and come out of their shells, just like I did at one time.”
The Source is planning to expand, including moving the center’s health clinic off site so it can grow and serve more people.
“We need more program space too. So, what does that look like? We’re not quite sure yet, but in the next three to five years, the source will continue to grow, because there’s more and more people to serve,” Vargas said.
Vargas encourages LGBTQ+ individuals to take advantage.
“Reach out to us. You know, you don’t have to be out to come into The Source. You can reach out to us through social media, if that’s safer for you,” Vargas said. “We check that every day and respond and connect people with resources. Sometimes we just listen.”
“Reach out. There is support. You just have to take that first step, and either come in, reach us online, come to an event, and we we’re looking forward to meeting you,”
Vargas said.
As a parent, Jeannette González said it is important to have a place like The Source because “we learn, we are instructed, it gives us tools that we have no knowledge of.”
“And it is very important that the children have a place like this, where they are supported with warmth, with love, and they feel at home,” said Jeannette González. “This center is very important for us. My children have met people who have welcomed them as their true family.”
Services are offered Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The center is open after hours for groups.
This reporting is supported by the Latino Media Collaborative, a non-profit news media organization that creates and fosters transformative media as well as everyday news for the Latino community. Visit www.latinomedia.org to learn more.
María G. Ortiz-Briones: 559-441-6782, @TuValleTuSalud