In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, we are hosting a series of profiles and stories to amplify and honor people, businesses, organizations, and projects connected to Seattle’s Latinx community.
Founded in 2017, Somos Seattle supports and celebrates LGBTQ+ Latinx folks. By providing a framework to share resources and building an active and engaged community, Somos creates a safe space for people to connect, learn, grow, and be the best version of themselves.
We recently checked-in with Ray Corona, Executive Director of Somos, to learn more about their work. See excerpts from our interview below:
Tell us a little bit about Somos Seattle. What are you most proud of?
SOMOS is an organization for LGBTQ Latinx folks. Our goal is to build an active community, share resources, and foster spaces for learning & growth. Our proudest accomplishment would be creating Seattle Latinx Pride Festival, this celebration allows our Latinx LGBTQ community to honor their most authentic identities.
How have the incidents of the past year impacted your work?
Creating community in-person is at the center of what we do, so this pandemic heavily impacted the ways in which communities could come together. Also, being a new organization, it substantially limited the amount of funding we were able to receive.
What is on your mind as we honor Latinx Heritage Month this year?
As we honor Latinx Heritage Month, we are thinking about the incredible resilience of our Latinx LGBTQ community. We are also grateful for the many partner organizations and people who support our work every day. While we have been working at a slower pace, we have big goals and plans for what we hope to accomplish in the next few years.
What are your hopes for the future? Both for Somos and for Seattle?
Our most immediate wish is to be able to celebrate Seattle Latinx Pride in July of 2022. We are also looking forward to developing partnerships that will provide opportunities for the Latinx LGBTQ community. During the pandemic, we had to slow down to ensure everyone was safe, but as we move toward our new normal, it is important to keep vulnerable communities at the front of mind.
In honor of Latinx Heritage Month, tell us about an individual or organization that you think Seattle should know more about.
Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network: they support our immigrant & refugee communities across Washington State.
To learn more about Somos Seattle visit www.somosseattle.org