Nancy Camaaño
Executive Director, Hudson Pride Connections Center
Nancy Caamaño, the executive director of the Hudson Pride Connections Center in Jersey City, N.J., says the need “to be driven by a cause that would make a lasting impact on the world” led her to a nonprofit career. After six years in the Air Force Reserve, Caamaño began at Hudson Pride as a volunteer in 2005, working her way up to her current position in 2008. She also serves as chair of the Membership Committee of the Hudson County HIV/AIDS Planning Council. Founded in 1993, Hudson Pride offers a number of programs and services for the LGBT communities of the northern New Jersey region. “Despite gains in social understanding and approval for LGBT people over the past 40 years, LGBT people still face both individual and systemic discrimination,” Caamaño says. “Hudson Pride plays an important role as the physical home for LGBT culture and is vital to the ultimate survival of our identity as a community.”
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