YOUNGSTOWN –In 2023, Full Spectrum Community Outreach Center made great strides in its mission to build an inclusive Mahoning Valley where LGBTQIA+ people thrive as healthy, equal and complete members of society, Tim Bortner, Full Spectrum CEO and co-founder, says.
Part of that progress can be attributed to the opening last year of a multi-purpose community center, which has hosted several events including trainings in LGBTQIA+ inclusivity and suicide prevention, Bortner says.
The volunteer-based organization
was founded in 2016. June 15 will mark the fifth anniversary of Pride in the Valley at Courthouse Square in downtown Warren.
“Purchasing the community center would not have been possible without the community’s support throughout the past four years, including at Full Spectrum’s flagship event, Pride in the Valley,” Bortner says.
Full Spectrum also plans to open the area’s first transitional homeless shelter. The shelter will provide a safe space for LGBTQIA+ people.