Tennessee Voices, Episode 297: Phil Cobucci, founder/board president, inclusion tennessee
In 2019, Nashville Pride began a community needs assessment of LGBTQ-plus citizens to understand how to serve them better.
The nonprofit organization organized the annual Pride festival, but it wanted to look beyond that event to create a framework for Middle Tennessee's LGBTQ community.
The work, which continued through COVID-19, tornadoes and other challenges, culminated over the summer in a new organization called inclusion tennessee.
On this episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast, founder and board president Phil Cobucci talked about inclusion tennessee's origin story and the board's aspirations.
The organization wants to create a community center focused on LGBTQ needs such as health care, aging-related services, building meaningful relationships and combatting isolation, apart from the bar or entertainment scene.
The board studied successful models in other cities including Chicago, San Diego, Houston and Wilton Manors near Fort Lauderdale.
Cobucci also shared his own story of trauma over the last few years including losing his home in the 2020 tornadoes and losing his business. But rather than falling apart, he sought to create a new path.
He told me he is convinced that building relationships is most effective one-on-one in unique and memorable ways away from the digital world.
Guest Column by Phil Cobucci: How inclusion tennessee breaks down isolation and creates civic participation | Opinion
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The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.
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David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Voices: Creating inclusive LGBTQ spaces with Phil Cobucci
