One year ago, Chris Rudisill stepped down from his position as executive director of St. Pete Pride to take on a new role: director of LGBT programming at Metro Wellness and Community Centers.
After three years with Pride, Rudisill found himself drawn to a more hands-on role with Metro, which celebrates 20 years of providing the Tampa Bay area with HIV services and LGBT social, health, and wellness programs this year.
“I’m really excited to have more direct interaction with the community year-round,” says Rudisill. “I loved working with Pride, but I love what I’m doing now, interacting with the community on a daily basis.”
Metro was established in 1993, forming out of King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church in St. Petersburg. Over the past two decades under the leadership of CEO Lorraine Langlois, Metro has grown and expanded its services, with centers in St. Pete, Tampa, and New Port Richey, and more than 90 staff members.
And as Metro celebrates its 20th anniversary, Rudisill promises that 2013 will continue to be an exciting year for the organization.
“Starting this month, our center in Ybor City is now offering full medical services,” he says. “Metro made history … by becoming the first HIV case management and prevention agency in our area to provide primary medical care.”
A similar medical clinic will open at Metro’s St. Pete Center within the next few months.
“[This moves] us along the path of being a comprehensive health and wellness center, providing a full array of client center services: social programs, support services and now medical care,” Rudisill says.
Additionally, by the end of the year Metro will open an LGBT Welcome Center in St. Petersburg, only the second such visitors’ center in the country. Sponsored by Visit Florida, the welcome center will open on Central Avenue in the heart of St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District — right across from Taco Bus and next to the current Metro Thrift and Gift retail center.
“We have so many LGBT tourists in this area,” Rudisill says. “It just makes so much sense.”
Plus, the Welcome Center would serve as a great resource for locals, he said, especially with a portion of the building set aside for community event space.
And Metro will continue to expand its day-to-day programming, says Rudisill, with a focus on youth and seniors, as well as HIV prevention outreach and education. The Centers now offer more groups for the 50 and over community and have also added new youth programs.
“Being a community center, we grow with the needs of the community,” he says.
Rudisill is amazed by how much the organization has grown over the years. “We started with nine clients and today we service over 9,000,” he says.
Metro Wellness and Community Centers will celebrate its 20 years of service at its Metro Tampa Bay Gala on Sept. 14 at the Tampa Garden Club, 2629 Bayshore Blvd., and feature model and HIV activist Jack Mackenroth from Project Runway and comic Karen Williams.
For more information about the various programs offered by Metro Wellness and Community Centers, go to metrotampabay.org.
This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2013.