In 1993, Long Island Crisis Center started Pride for Youth at a time when support and outreach to LGBTQ+ youth on Long Island was virtually non-existent. Pride for Youth has grown to encompass multiple services addressing many of the needs of LGBTQ+ youth and their families. Pride for Youth created the Coffeehouse program in 1995 – the first suburban coffeehouse for LGBTQ+ youth in the country. We began airing public service announcements on MTV in the mid 90’s - one of the first mass media outreach strategies for LGBTQ+ youth nationwide. In 2001, Pride for Youth launched an action research project, which documented that 94% of Long Island students are exposed to homophobia in their schools and one in ten have been victimized because of their perceived sexual orientation. With the new millennium’s startling HIV resurgence among young gay and bisexual men of color, Pride for Youth led the way to building a healthier generation of young people through its culturally-sensitive Young Men’s Program, initiated in 2003
Pride for Youth seeded and stewarded Gay-Straight Alliances in several high-need Nassau County school districts from 2004 through the present. In 2006, working with corporate partners such as CMP Media, Pride for Youth launched an employment mentoring program for LGBTQ youth. In 2009, transgender teens found their own place to share their specific concerns and build pride through Pride for Youth’s Trans Support Group. In 2014, PFY implemented Long Island's first and only CBO based PrEP/PEP program, expanding this program to Queens in 2015.
