“I’ve seen what a big center can do,” Raya said.

What’s next for LGBTQ center?

When the Placer LGBTQ+ Center’s board was first established in 2014, they set out to build a physical center that would serve both youth and adults.

While the center has held up its commitment to being a resource and visible part of the community, through Placer Pride and events like walking in the Roseville Fourth of July parade every year, they have seen setbacks in establishing a physical space, including administrative hurdles and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, Zimmerman says, the center is “leveling up.”

Attendance at this year’s Placer Pride in May, the event’s third iteration, is a reflection of this. Officials estimated that over 2,000 were in attendance as compared to 1,000 and 500 attendees last year and the year before that, respectively.

“It was just really nice. I felt like there was hope for Placer County there,” Kai said.

Placer Pride also featured performances by the Gay Men’s choir and local drag artists and was able to host 80 booths this year, up from last year’s 45 booths, with vendors, resources, networking opportunities and crafts and games for kids.

The board of directors for the center hopes to diversify and expand this year, Zimmerman said. The organization gained its 501c(3) status in 2014, under the name PRISM-Q LGBT & Allies Resource Center, but does business as the Placer LGBTQ+ Center, and hopes to change its official nonprofit name later this year.

“Longterm, we want to get to a point where we don’t have to spend all of our time fundraising,” Zimmerman said. “It doesn’t make sense to open a center if then we’re going to have to spend all our time raising money to keep the center open. Really it’s providing the resources and support.”

People who set up monthly donations, Zimmerman said, also help provide security that the center will have funding in the future.

While they haven’t totaled earnings from Raya’s fundraiser party yet, the center was recently awarded a $10,000 capacity building grant from the Placer Community Foundation and had success with its Big Day of Giving, during which Placer LGBTQ+ Center raised $9,260, up from $5,348 in 2023.

At Placer Pride in May, the Gay Men’s choir also made a $1,000 donation to the center.

When the center adds these new funds to their total, Zimmerman said, they will reach nearly 40% of their goal of $75,000.

Though high temperatures had Raya worried that fewer people would attend his birthday fundraiser for the Placer County center last weekend, he considered the event a success: those who made it to the event heard about the work that the center does, and Raya said many who could not make it reached out to ask about where they could find more information.

At the fundraiser, State Sen. Angelique Ashby presented Raya with a resolution honoring the advocacy work he has done since he was a student at Sacramento State. That advocacy work includes lobbying and representing the West Coast at the first National Gay Task Force in 1977, the resolution said.

Raya says he is on a mission to help provide consistent community resources.

“They need a place, a safe space,” Raya said. “There’s none.”

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