San Jose LGBT community center may close
(San Jose) The Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center announced Tuesday that unless it could raise $50,000 by Sept. 1, it will close.
Executive Director Paul Wysocki said they have run out of funding at the center, which, after cutbacks, operates at an annual budget of $310,000.
“Our government funding has ended, and …
San Jose gay center warns it may have to close
The interim executive director of a gay community center that serves Silicon Valley says the 28-year-old gathering place will have to close its doors unless he can raise $50,000 by September.
Paul Wysocki sent a newsletter to supporters of the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center on Tuesday warning that dried up government funding and declining corporate support had created a hole in the center’s $310,000 budget. The center provides HIV testing, support services for youth and seniors, and career and recreational programs.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/san-jose-gay-…
San Jose’s Billy DeFrank Center embarks on ambitious fundraising campaign
For 28 years, the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center has been the go-to place for Silicon Valley’s diverse gay community. But on Tuesday, interim executive director Paul Wysocki sent out a desperate plea: the DeFrank Center will close its doors unless it raises $50,000 by Sept. 1. “Our government funding has ended, and in today’s economy, we can’t count on corporate support,” read a weekly newsletter that is e-mailed to supporters. “Our current income from memberships and events no longer meets even the most basic level of Center operations.” The DeFrank Center has three main programs: support services for youth, another for seniors, and an HIV/AIDS testing program. But funding for the HIV testing from Santa Clara County and for the senior program from the city of San Jose have dried up as both the county and the city struggle with their own budget deficits. The Center has cut expenses and now has an annual budget of $310,000, down from $800,000 a few years ago. Wysocki became interim executive director four months ago after former executive director Aejaie Sellers and former board President PJ Matarese were ousted amid internal power struggles over the center’s long-term vision and escalating financial problems. “I have a lot of empathy for Barack Obama,” said Wysocki. “You inherit a situation where a lot of things were done poorly.”
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LGBT Center Director Burns Out Gay City News
That’s not really fair to Richard Burns, after 22 years as executive director of New York’s LGBT Community Center, but I couldn’t resist the headline. Burns has actually shown remarkable staying power, but is moving on in February to become the chief operating officer at the Arcus Foundation, part of whose mission is LGBT rights. The group’s executive director is Urvashi Vaid, who once led the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. See LGBT Center Director Burns Out Gay City News
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/lgbt-center-d…
