Center Blog

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Nicole Avallone as the Center’s new Director of Youth Services. In this capacity, she will oversee our Youth Enrichment Services (YES) program staff and the coordination, implementation and delivery of the spectrum of educational, developmental, prevention and support interventions offered by YES.

Avallone is a social worker with an extensive history of providing support and advocacy to the LGBT community. Most recently she served as Director of Member Services & Outreach at the Rainbow Heights Club, the only government funded psychosocial club specifically geared toward serving LGBT adults living with mental illness.

Avallone’s professional career included a year-long internship with the Center’s Adult Services Department in 2003-2004. Since that time she has continued to facilitate groups for the Center’s Gender Identity Project, primarily focusing on support for partners of transgender people. She began her career in social services as an advocate for young people living on the streets and in shelters in Seattle, Washington. 

“Avallone brings a powerful history, enormous energy and commitment to the mission of the Center,” said Carrie Davis, Director of Community Services. “She will be a genuine resource in the work we continue to do.”

This change comes in the context of the development of the new Community Services Department that began in the fall of 2010. The new Community Services Department is working to improve participant services through freer internal transfers of talents and resources, and expanding program reach and infrastructure to better serve our communities. The department is also developing new services designed to address the needs of underserved or “gap” populations and enhance our focus on the Center’s mission and strategic plan.