This year's Chicago Pride Parade will honor a West Side organization serving the community for over three decades.

TaskForce Prevention and Community Services is a multiservice, grassroots, community-based organization that helps LGBTQ+ youth. This year, they will be put front and center at the event.

The organization, located at 9 N. Cicero Ave. in the Austin neighborhood, offers various services, including a Vogue School. But there is more than dancing happening inside.

"This is a space where young people can engage and be connected to other LGBTQ+ youth, and that helps build that self-worth, foster a sense of community," Executive Director Christopher Balthazar said. "Really, at the core of the vogue school is really about firming identity."

Balthazar said the space helps support the health and wellness of the LGBTQ+ youth, from medical to a food pantry, and even a community closet.

"I love this work, there is a great sense of purpose," Program Director Reyna Ortiz said. "Sometimes kids just want to be around other LGBT youth, you know, and some are experiencing homelessness, and they need a doctor and a lawyer and all of those things."

All those services are earning TaskForce a big honor. The organization will start the parade as the first "out front" leader in the parade's history. 

"It feels beautiful to be recognized," Ortiz said. "Finally, the city is giving TaskForce the roses."

But not only is the organization being recognized, Balthazar said the honor will also be for the people they serve.

"This sends a very powerful message that our young people, their existence, their identity, who they are matters and they're being celebrated. Everyone deserves a safe, affirming space, and we need those spaces all over the city," Balthazar said.

TaskForce is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. It serves about 2,500  teens and young adults every year.

The organization said it is preparing to move to a new location about four blocks away, hopefully by 2027.

• Chicago
• Pride