Northern Virginia’s lone nonprofit community center for LGBTQ+ individuals marked the opening on Saturday (March 29) of a new facility designed to expand opportunities serving the region.
“We have a lot of exciting things we want to do with this space,” said NoVA Prism Center board president Sydney Mastrangelo during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the expanded service center at 1340 Old Chain Bridge Road in McLean.
Relocated from a small office in Oakton, the LGBTQ resource center’s new base provides facilities for staff as well as a community library, an arts-and-crafts room, a gender-affirming clothes closet and a room designated as a future food pantry.
“We are a space for everyone,” NOVA Prism Center Executive Director Leon van der Goetz said. “It’s a space where people can come, hang out [and] access vital services.”
The facility initially will be open to the public Saturday afternoons, with plans for expanding to a number of weekdays, as well. All ages are welcome, Mastrangelo told FFXnow.
Launched in response to book ban campaigns targeting materials about LGBTQ characters and issues, NoVA Prism Center’s first home in Oakton had a maximum capacity of four people and very limited space for the library and clothes closet.
“We really couldn’t achieve our vision” without an expansion, van der Goetz told FFXnow prior to the ceremony.
The new site, close to McLean’s central core, is “wonderfully central,” he said. It was chosen after a multi-month search that focused on price, proximity to public transportation and Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility.
Attending the opening ceremony were three members of the Fairfax County School Board — Dranesville District Representative Robyn Lady, at-large member Kyle McDaniel and Karl Frisch, who chairs the board and represents Providence District.
“I look forward to seeing everything this new space can do. Great things are going to happen,” Frisch said. “We’re very grateful for the work that has gone into this.”
That work required about 1,000 total volunteer hours, including support from students who created the art that now adorns the center’s walls. Bookshelves in the library were built and installed as part of an Eagle Scout project.
NoVA Prism Center was founded in 2022, offering pop-up events at first. It relies mostly on individual contributions to cover operational costs.
Its executive director says the organization is on a sound financial footing and plans to continue expanding its footprint as opportunities allow.
