Jennah Booth

The American River Pride Center will open at 12 p.m. on April 5, 2018. (Photo by Jennah Booth)

American River College’s LGBTQ+ Pride Center is set for a soft launch on April 5.

The purpose of the Pride Center is to aid in LGBTQ+ awareness and campus climate and in general assist students with navigating everyday campus life.

Dr. Emilie Mitchell, a psychology professor at ARC and co-advisor of FIERCE, the LGBTA student group on campus, runs the center located in the HUB — though at this time it is limited and not fully functional.

The limited hours of operation are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mitchell is available by appointment.

“Once our hiring is finished, the Pride Center will be staffed Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 p.m. Currently, our hours are limited because we do not have a full-time classified staff member,” said Mitchell.

“[The] Pride Center is the result of the hard work of many different people on campus, including, but not limited, to members of the original LGBTQ Subcommittee of Equity and President Greene who ultimately supported and funded the Pride Center,” Mitchell said.

“We are here to provide education and consultation to make sure the ARC community is continuously learning how to best serve LGBTQ+ people. We also support the Queer student group FIERCE as well as facilitating student groups specifically for Queer students of color, as well as for trans-spectrum students,” Mitchell said.

The LGBTQ+ Pride Center is expected to be fully staffed in fall of 2018.