Ten years ago in October 2015, Tracy Baim and Kim L. Hunt formed Pride Action Tank—a project incubator and think-tank of AIDS Foundation Chicago focused on action for LGBTQ+ related issues. Pride Action Tank (PAT) was born in part out of the Windy City Times “Generation Halsted” series highlighting youth homelessness in 2012 and building on the momentum and success of the March on Springfield for marriage equality in 2013.
At the time, Baim had been enmeshed in the Chicago LGBTQ+ ecosystem, notably as a co-founder and owner of Windy City Times, and Hunt had been serving as Affinity Community Services’s first executive director, after a history of entrepreneurial endeavors focused on community and economic development. Hunt refers to Baim as her “social justice wife,” and Baim refers to Hunt as “fellow cliff jumper.”
“Tracy sees the vision, I see the path, and neither of us has a net. Yet here we are.”
What Baim and Hunt have been able to accomplish through PAT over the last 10 years has been significant, leading to policy change and long-lasting impact for LGBTQ+ individuals. PAT projects have enjoyed the support of volunteer leaders, organizations, academic institutions, AFC colleagues, and funders.
Their earliest project, technically a pre-PAT pilot but vital in defining its foundation and process, was the Summit on Youth Homelessness in 2014 hosted by the Windy City Times through Baim’s leadership and with Hunt as the Summit director. “It is one of the proudest things I’ve ever been part of,” said Baim.
The three-day summit was in response to current, urgent issues; it was youth-led centering those directly impacted, incorporated storytelling as a means of advocacy, and brought together a range of stakeholders to develop .action plans. The elements of this summit developed into what PAT’s model is today: a collective process of inquiry, advocacy, and action.
“Bringing together a range of people to define a problem and find ways of addressing it that make sense and are helpful for the people who are impacted by the issue, and then sticking around after for the implementation of policy changes, is the special sauce that we bring to the work PAT does,” explained Hunt, who has served as PAT’s executive director since its founding in 2015.
PAT’s work has included expanding access to public accommodations like restrooms for transgender and nonbinary people through what is now known as CRAP (Community Restroom Access Project); drawing attention to and offering solutions for eliminating LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, such as tiny homes; and working with LGBTQ+ older adults to create cultural responsiveness trainings and establish an LGBTQ+ community liaison in the Illinois Department on Aging.
“It’s been amazing what PAT has been able to accomplish over 10 years with just two staff, some contract work and grants,” said Baim. “It’s been a very small and scrappy team for what it has done. As they say, it’s punched way above its weight, and I’m proud to have been a co-founder and happy and grateful with where Kim [Hunt] has been able to take it.”
A key member of the small and scrappy team who is responsible for so much of PAT’s success is Jackie Thaney, AFC’s senior policy & advocacy operations coordinator. “She is the secret sauce, the secret weapon, the woman behind the power that created the continuity in the project management that has allowed PAT to be as expansive as it’s been with such a small team,” said Baim.
For Hunt, one of her greatest sources of pride has been CRAP, which came about in 2014/2015 during the slew of “bad bathroom bills” sweeping the nation. “It’s an example of the power that can come from engaging regular people and being able to provide them with some consistency and structure to allow their vision to come true,” said Hunt. “It started with two people coming to us from community who said we are tired of being harassed in restrooms because of our presentation; we want to be able to go to the restroom we want use.”
Though CRAP has generated major success through legislative wins, plumbing code updates and changes to the human relations ordinance, it took eight years. “What we learned from that is you have to pivot,” said Hunt. “The path you think you’re on may not be the path for now.
You have to learn to celebrate success, and you can’t do it without community.”
From the time of the initial meeting to achieving the original goal of allowing businesses to have multi-stall all-gender restrooms was an eight-year journey, through COVID, the Trump administrations, and more. “The wild thing is that CRAP is the least funded project we’ve ever had,” said Hunt. “We had one house party that brought money, and we’ve had a few donors, but it was the strong desire of community to make it happen that really kept that project going.”
It’s a testament to the drive and passion of the community, and the leadership of PAT to see it through. That is the essence of PAT: co-creating opportunities with LGBTQ+ community members, not speaking for them.
Both Baim and Hunt are excited about the possibility for PAT to scale up its projects and replicate its model in other cities and communities to create a more profound impact. “I think the larger society could really learn from marginalized communities,” said Baim. “That’s the thing about the queer community—we do things for everybody. We know that whatever benefits LGBTQ+ people would also benefit straight people, and that PAT’s work could easily scale for larger society.”
The political climate of today is not unlike what PAT was facing10 years ago during its founding. Though we must acknowledge it is different: the blatant attacks and scapegoating of the most vulnerable groups and sweeping cuts of vital programs and services is unprecedented. “In the midst of the crisis before us, Pride Action Tank is still holding space for our people to dream,” said Hunt. “We cannot spend all our energy fighting against. We also have to develop and work towards a shared consciousness of what we’re fighting for—otherwise we are going to be too burned out to be effective.”
Lessons learned through the years, particularly around self and community care, and the need for cross-generational involvement, will allow PAT to continue inquiring, advocating, and acting for another ten years, and beyond.
For a complete overview of PAT’s work, visit: Projects—Pride Action Tank: https://prideactiontank.org/projects/ .