(L-R) Andres Acosta, Joél Junior Morales and Marco Antonio Quiroga at this year’s Orlando Strong Symposium where Morales received the Community Builder award. (Photo courtesy Contigo Fund)
ORLANDO | Contigo Fund announced in a press release Nov. 9 that LGBTQ activist Joél Junior Morales will be joining the organization as its new foundation manager. Morales has been the director of operations for the LGBT+ Center Orlando since 2019.
“I’m very excited for this opportunity,” said Morales in the release. “This is my chance to affect the community on a macro level, ensuring much needed funding is brought into Central Florida.”
Morales will be only the second full-time staff member for Contigo Fund. Morales joins executive director Marco Antonio Quiroga, community relations manager Andres Acosta and donor relations manager Val Solomon on staff, the last two work in a part-time capacity.
Contigo Fund also announced the addition of six members to its community advisory board: Yasmin Andre, director of Ryan White Part B at Heart of Florida United Way; Efrain Garcia, a first-generation Mexican immigrant and gender justice intern for QLatinx; Andrea Montanez, first-generation Colombian immigrant and LGBTQ immigration organizer for Hope Community Center; Neil Rios, also a first-generation Colombian immigrant and the development coordinator at the Central Florida Foundation; Kassandra Santiago, an established professional photographer, social media strategist and passionate community volunteer; and Shea Cutliff, local trans activist and founding member of the R.I.S.E. initiative.
“The changes happening internally at Contigo Fund are a good sign for our Central Florida LGBTQ+ community,” the nonprofit stated in its release. “As the largest funder for LGBTQ+ issues in Central Florida, Contigo Fund has been the catalyst for many of the grassroots organizations that are now serving Queer and Trans communities of color in our community. As we look to secure the sustainability of the social movement created after Pulse, the growth and expansion of Contigo is a good indicator that our community is headed in the right direction.”
Since its creation in 2016, following the tragic events at Pulse, Contigo Fund has established itself as the largest funder of LGBTQ issues in Central Florida, bringing more than $4 million into the community since its start. Contigo specializes in grantmaking that focuses on supporting projects and efforts that center around the most marginalized and oppressed members of the LGBTQ and Latinx, immigrant and people of color communities.
For more information on Contigo Fund, visit ContigoFund.org.
