With the help of a Morgan Startup Grant, a grant the Burton D. Morgan Foundation donated to LaunchNET at Kent State University, owner of Sun in Leo Justine Gallo was able to open her upcycled clothing boutique in January 2023.
Gallo always had an interest in returning the favor and supporting the Kent community, so when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1 into law in March 2025 and the university’s LGBTQ+ Center closed its doors in June 2025, she began brainstorming.
“A lot of people were scrambling, trying to figure out what we’re going to do since there’s no longer resources,” Gallo said. “And, personally being a student, all I really need was, sometimes, an extra boost of cash, so we were like, ‘Why don’t we create this fund relief that is for a student?’”
Having received a grant for her business, Gallo understood the challenges of applying for them, especially how competitive some can be, which motivated her to establish a different, easier way to award individuals money.
Gallo, a co-founder of Kent Pride Fest alongside Nicole Joseph, Sun in Leo’s graphic and web designer, decided to put some of the money from vendor fees and raffles from the fest toward an emergency fund.
The Pride Fest has expanded since it first started in June 2024 as an outdoor market; it now also encompasses a bar crawl and a Pride Rally, so the non-profit organization has to budget out the cost of road closures and expansion, in addition to growing the emergency fund.
During the past two Pride Fests, Joseph calculated that Kent Pride has spent about $2,000 to $3,000 covering road closures and merchandise costs.
Last year’s Pride Fest raised around $500, but with this year’s increased number of sponsors and estimated participants, Joseph said the fest has raised about $2,000 so far, after expenses.
“We have a lot of downtown business sponsors, but we’re all small businesses so we don’t expect much from them,” Gallo said. “But the people who do donate, it’s really awesome because we are able to put that towards, hopefully, community members soon.”
Joseph expects the nonprofit will donate its first microgrants of about $250 to $500 during Rainbow Weekend in October. There will be different categories for the grants and general applications will be posted on the Kent Pride website.
As the pair continue to work toward raising money for these grants, they are still determining the criteria for recipients, as well as considering creating a new position on Kent Pride’s committee for a grant coordinator.
“I just wanted to help someone in this community,” Gallo said. “I can’t help everyone, but I can help the people that I interact with daily, so that’s kind of where the inspiration for who it goes to would be, is just someone who we know in the community, takes part in the community and wants it to continue to grow.”
For those interested in attending or contributing, Kent Pride Fest will occur June 12-14, with more information, opportunities to donate and ways to get tickets for the Kent Pride Fest Bar Crawl on its website.