Uniting for a Stronger Community: Volusia Pride Takes Shape

DeLand Pride is joining forces with its sister organizations in Volusia County—Lake Helen Pride and Daytona Pride—to create a more unified and impactful presence. This new collaboration will be branded as Volusia Pride.

By bringing together these three groups, leaders hope to provide the community with a single, comprehensive resource.

The primary goal of this rebranding is to consolidate information, making it easier for community members to access everything they need without having to visit multiple websites.

Heather McLean, Executive Director of DeLand Pride and Vice President of their 501(c)(3) nonprofit, highlights the benefits of this unified approach.

“Over the past two years, our community has grown immensely,” McLean explains. “We believe in the strength of numbers. This collaboration allows us to better support each other and serve the community more effectively.”

McLean also emphasizes the practical advantages of this partnership. “From a paperwork and bureaucracy standpoint, it’s easier for these groups to do good work when we don’t have to do three times the amount of tax filings and that kind of thing,” she says.

According to the source, this streamlining will enable the organization to focus more on its mission and less on administrative tasks.

In addition to administrative efficiencies, the collaboration will also enhance their advocacy efforts. “We’ve really expanded into a much bigger team,” McLean notes.

“We now have co-chairs of our advocacy committee, which allows us to do more work on advocating for the community at the school board or county level.”

Looking ahead, Volusia Pride has several exciting initiatives in the works. The organization is in the early stages of moving into a larger space, which will allow it to offer mental health counseling services to anyone in the community who needs them.

They have already begun partnering with licensed mental health counselors to provide these services directly through the organization.

The new space will also enable Volusia Pride to host more family-friendly events, such as family movie nights.

McLean stresses that the rebranding is not about changing the core mission of the organization, but about growing and strengthening its impact.

“We want the community to know that we are here for them, that they are welcomed and celebrated for who they are,” she says.

Volusia Pride aims to create a community where everyone in Volusia County feels welcome and supported.

The new, unified approach is a step towards achieving this goal, bringing together the strengths and resources of DeLand Pride, Lake Helen Pride, and Daytona Pride.

For more information on events and resources, visit DeLandPride.org.

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