FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY 18 DECEMBER
MEDIA RELEASE
Switchboard lights up the Victorian Pride Centre
Melbourne, Australia, 18 December 2019 – Switchboard, Victoria’s largest online and phone based LGBTIQ counselling and referral service today joined the growing list of Pride Centre LGBTIQ resident organisations.
Switchboard’s administrative and outreach services, including their essential Out & About program will be located alongside other major LGBTIQ organisations, Minus18 and JOY 94.9.
In a ceremony on site, Victorian Pride Centre Chair Jude Munro AO handed over the third symbolic key to the much valued and respected Switchboard team, led by CEO Joe Ball.
Earlier this year Switchboard was recognised for its significant work, taking out the Globe award for ‘protecting our community’. Over 180 volunteers supported by a small staff team, deliver peer based and professional support services for the LGBTIQ community across Victoria and in collaboration with national agency Qlife.
Works on site at the Pride Centre continue at pace with practical completion on track and the Centre due to open late 2020. Pre-cast concrete panels on the ground floor are being installed, with works on the portico due to start mid-late January 2020.
Through an integrated and multi-faceted approach, the Pride Centre’s iconic design will provide local, national and international visitors with access to technology, resources, essential health and social services, social connection and shared learning opportunities.
Quotes Attributed to Victorian Pride Centre Chair, Jude Munro AO
“With the festive season already upon us, it is an important reminder that Switchboard services are essential to our community. The Pride Centre will provide a stable and sustainable home for decades to come.”
“We are very pleased to be able to house the team that supports the volunteers who listen to and support our communities through tough times.”
“Switchboard services are open everyday of the year including Christmas and New Years”
Quotes Attributed to Switchboard Chair, Sarah Marlowe
“The Victorian Pride Centre will create a fabulous place where LGBTIQA+ people and our families can come to connect and find community.”
“Connection and Community is at the heart of Switchboard’s peer support services.”
“Housing our administration in the Pride Centre gives Switchboard an exciting opportunity to strengthen our connection with other LGBTIQA+ organisations and with members of our diverse communities. We can’t wait”
Quotes Attributed to Switchboard CEO, Joe Ball
“After 28 years Switchboard has a new home.”
“ We are excited about the security that the Pride Centre brings to the essential work we do.”
“Switchboard Victoria provides, suicide prevention, family violence prevention, elders social inclusion and mental health and wellbeing services for the LGBTIQA+ community and we look forward to bringing these services into the Centre and being housed alongside other essential and leading Victorian LGBTIQA+ organisations.”
IMAGES:
Image 1: L-R: Switchboard CEO: Joe Ball, Chair of the Board: Sarah Marlowe, Victorian Pride Centre Chair: Jude Munro, Victorian Pride Centre acting CEO: Justine Dalla Riva.
Image 2: Switchboard Board and staff pointing at the Victorian Pride Centre
Image 3: L-R: Chair of the Board: Sarah Marlowe, CEO Joe Ball and other Switchboard board members
Image credit: Laura Du Ve
About the Victorian Pride Centre
The Victorian Pride Centre is a unique initiative that celebrates, bolsters and protects equality, diversity and inclusion. It is set to forge a new chapter in the narrative of Australian Pride by bringing the LGBTIQ community together in a single and powerful space. It will be home to practical and supportive services as well as being an international tourist destination. The Victorian Pride Centre Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation structured as a company limited by guarantee.
About Switchboard
Switchboard Victoria provides peer-driven support services
for the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) people, their
families,
allies and communities.
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Please visit www.pridecentre.org.au www.facebook.com/vicpridecentre
For further information contact Justine Dalla Riva, Acting CEO 0429 979153 or comms@pridecentre.org.au
Media contact for Switchboard Victoria Joe Ball, ceo@switchboard.org.au