Olympic icon Greg Louganis dives into a new project
Family Portrait: Kory Aversa
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“Berlin Patient” tells his story at the Philadelphia FIGHT Prevention Summit
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June 22-28, 2012
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Vol. 36 No. 25
Report: William Way one of oldest, largest centers in U.S.
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com A teen-led committee of a local grantmaking agency awarded $10,000 each last week to two LGBT-focused agencies. YOUTHadelphia, a youth panel of The Philadelphia Foundation, presented $85,000 in grants last Thursday to nine youth-serving programs, including The Attic Youth Center and Gay and Lesbian Latinos AIDS Education Initiative.
The funding was provided from The Fund for Children, supported by the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies. The YOUTHadelphia committee is comprised of 19 local teens from across Philadelphia who lead the entire grantmaking process — learning how to develop a request for proposals, evaluate applications and make strategic funding decisions. Philadelphia Foundation president R. Andrew Swinney said his agency believes PAGE 16 in youth empowerment
William Way wins $20K for web work By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Googlers will be one step closer to William Way LGBT Community Center after the organization took the top prize in a social-media contest earlier this month. The center received the most “likes” in a Facebook contest hosted by SEER Interactive, a search-engine optimization group, topping seven other local nonprofits.
As its reward, the center will be the focus and beneficiary of SEO conference “Did You Google It?” June 22 and will receive $20,000 worth of website and SEO consultation, applications and programs. SEER business development manager Jamie Blomquist said most nonprofits face challenges in establishing their strongest possible web presence. “When you look at the online world, it’s not a level playing field,” she said. PAGE 18 “Nonprofits like William
National average
William Way Community Center
40 30 20 10 0
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Go v’ vid t u Fo un als da Fu tion nd s ra isi n Re g n Be tal qu es ts In -K Co ind rp or at e Ot Pr her og ra m s
Teen grantmakers award $10K to Attic, GALAEI
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Although the center’s staff did not include as much diversity as other organizations, the agency was found to serve a diverse cross-section of the city’s LGBT community with a PAGE 2
In
TRUCKIN’ INTO TOWN: AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Condom Nation Tour made a stop in the Gayborhood last weekend. The 70-foot-long 18-wheeler was parked on Locust Street between 12th and 13th Friday night to arm passersby with free condoms and safe-sex resources. The 25-state, 40-city tour launched in February with a goal of giving away 10 million condoms by the campaign’s end next month — some 51,000 were reportedly distributed in Philly. AHF partnered with Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia, GALAEI and Philadelphia FIGHT for the local stop. Photo: Scott A. Drake
A national coalition of LGBT community centers this month released results of a wide-ranging survey that found Philadelphia’s center succeeding in many areas. CenterLink and Movement Advancement Project’s LGBT Community Center Survey Report gathered data from 79 LGBT centers from across the nation, finding that they collectively served more than 1.7 million people last year. William Way was one of the oldest in the nation and boasted longer hours, more space and larger staffs and
volunteer bases than many similarly situated organizations. While the agency’s revenue was a bit below the national average, the organization relies on more diversified and stabilized means of income.
Percent of Revenue
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
Source: CenterLink and Movement Advancement Project’s LGBT Community Center Survey Report. Sean Dorn/PGN
Advocates push for LGBT, HIV inclusion in aging plan By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
A coalition of local organizations is urging the state to better work to meet the needs of LGBT and HIV-positive older adults. Representatives of a number of LGBT, HIV/AIDS and elderly service organizations will testify next week at a public hearing on the Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s 2012-16 State Plan on Aging to call for the inclusion of specific language addressing the needs of LGBT and HIV/ AIDS older-adult communities. The newly formed coalition includes the LGBT Elder Initiative, AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, Mazzoni Center and William Way LGBT Community Center. “We want the state to specifically name LGBT older adults in the plan,” said LGBTEI communications chair Ed Bomba. “We need to begin to look at the needs of this community as well as the community
of older Pennsylvanians living with HIV/ AIDS.” Among its particular aims, the coalition is asking the department to add representatives of both the LGBT and HIV/AIDS populations to the state’s Council on Aging and Cultural Diversity Advisory Council, as well as regional councils. LGBTEI co-chair Heshie Zinman said he and other advocates have been calling on the state to appoint representatives of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities to state panels for some time, but the conversations have fallen on deaf ears. “No one at the state level is listening to us,” Zinman said. “We make up a substantial part of the population, and they’re not talking to us and they’re not getting feedback from us. I feel like the state doesn’t care about me, doesn’t care about the LGBT community and people with HIV.” Zinman noted that, in the next few years, more than half of the state’s HIV-positive population will be over 50. The coalition will also PAGE 14