The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. (GLAA) sent the following
letter of support for the DC Center to members of the Council of the District of Columbia. The letters supports public funding for The DC Center. The HIV Working Group and the website
www.fighthivindc.org are a program of The DC Center.
The Honorable Vincent Gray, Chair
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Chairman Gray:
We are submitting this for the record of your July 24 hearing to revisit the District’s budget. Mayor Fenty’s proposed cut to close the budget deficit will cause needless harm to the DC Center, which serves the city’s LGBT community, just when its mission has begun to flourish.
The DC Center is the only D.C. member of CenterLink, the national association of LGBT community centers. According to data from the 2000 Census, the District ranks among the top five metropolitan areas in the number of same-sex couples. Each of the other four—New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago—have long-established LGBT community centers with annual budgets ranging from $2 million to $43 million. Each of these community centers purchased a building and has received considerable support from its city.
The Mayor’s proposed sixty percent cut would decrease the Center’s building fund from the approved $500,000 to $200,000, and would decrease funding for the Center’s Crystal Meth Working Group from $150,000 to $60,000. We note that the city has no substance abuse prevention grant for adults, or the Center would apply for it. The amount originally approved for the DC Center’s building fund is modest compared to those in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. The Center’s current space limits its capacity to meet the community need.
Our city deserves an LGBT center on par with other leading gay population areas. After multiple attempts to establish a permanent community center over the years, the current Center has taken hold, and has been in existence for over five years. Its weekly e-mail goes to over 7,000 District residents. The Center is a growing and vital part of the District community.
GLAA is an advocacy group, and our lack of any financial interest in the District budget is essential to preserving our independent voice. The DC Center, by contrast, is service-oriented, and has stepped up to fill needs that were not being addressed by our city’s overstretched volunteers. Please do whatever you can to preserve funding for this invaluable organization.
Sincerely,
Mitch Wood
President
Help us Keep DC Safer over Labor Day Weekend. Join members of the HIV Working Group on Thursday, September 3rd at Motley Bar for another Packing Party. Volunteers will be assembling safer sex kits and enjoying great drink specials at Motley. 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM.
Metropolitan Washington Regional HIV (Ryan White) Health Services Planning Council, which serves people living with HIV/AIDS in the DC metro area, is looking for members to serve for three-year terms that will begin in March 2010. The Planning Council assesses the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and allocates funds to meet those needs.
On September 16 and 17, there will be a training, Treating Tobacco Dependence in the HIV/AIDS Community, for medical/health professionals who treat or provide care for people in DC.
Please join us for the next meeting of the Capital Area Vaccine Effort(CAVE)on Wednesday September 9th at 7:00 PM. We'll be meeting at the DC Center, 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 350.
The DC Center's HIV Working Group TOOLK!T/FUK!T Campaign is expanding into two new locations. The TOOLK!T safer sex kits will now be available at Pulp (www.pulpdc.com) located at 1803 14th Street, NW and Commisary (www.commissarydc.com) located at 1443 P Street, NW. The TOOLK!T/FUK!T Campaign is now distributing over 2,000 safer sex kits each week. If you'd like more information, please click here to join the HIV Working Group Yahoo Group or send an e-mail.
National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day takes place on September 27th, 2009. This event was started by the National Association of People with AIDS.
The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. (GLAA) sent the following letter of support for the DC Center to members of the Council of the District of Columbia. The letters supports public funding for The DC Center. The HIV Working Group and the website www.fighthivindc.org are a program of The DC Center.
Community Education Group Events is seeking 10 nonprofit community and/or faith-based nonprofit organizations to participate in a 2 day grant writing bootCAMP. It will be held July 30-July 31 2009. Come prepared with an old grant you want to resubmit, a new RFA you want to write, or an application you want to apply for in next 100 days to work one on one with grant-writing, budget, and evaluation specialists.
Are you an artist who is HIV positive or who has works about HIV/AIDS? We want to hear from you.
Hope DC is hosting its monthly Poz social at Larry's Lounge. It will take place on Saturday July 25, beginning at 7:00 pm and ending at 10:00 pm. Larry's Lounge is located at 1836 18th St. NW.