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VERMONT'S VOICE FOR THE LESBIAN, GAY,
BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY SINCE 1 985

One primary

goal is to ‘infuse

an anti-violence
perspective’ into
both community

organizations.

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BURLINGTON — R.U.1.2?

Queer Community Center and
SafeSpace, after months of
meetings, have decided to work
together as one organization.
What isn’t clear yet is exactly
how that will pan out. Possibili-
ties include sharing office space,
staff, volunteers and/or fund—
ing. It’s still in process, with
hopes that definite goals will be
reached soon.

“We hope to make an an-
nouncement at the (R.U.1.2?)
community dinner,” R.U.1.2?
board Chair lta Meno said in
March.

Meno and her counterpart
for SafeSpace, Chair Jackie
Weinstock, said they are excited
about putting the two organi-
zations together, but that ex-
haustion is beginning to set in.
Members of the transition team
have been willing to go to extra
meetings for at least the past 4
months, they said, the meetings
resulting in the general decision
to work together.

The six people on the
transition team include Meno,
Weinstock, R.U.1.2? Executive
Director Christopher Kaufman,
SafeSpace Executive Direc-
tor Kara DeLeonardis, Karen
Vastine of the SafeSpace board
of directors, and Paula Jackson,
an R.U.1.2? board member. As
the process continues, one or
two community members will
be added to the team, they said.

It's not about cutting jobs or
services, Weinstock said. It's ac-
tually about enhancing services.

One primary goal is to “infuse
an anti-violence perspective”
into both community organiza-
tions, she said. If one person
answered the phone for both
organizations, for example, the
caller would be assured that the
person they’re talking to would
have an anti-violence perspec-
tive, Meno added.
Quite a few queer commu-

nity centers across the country

' have combined services with

anti-violence programs, Meno
said. The two mission state-
ments of both R.U.1.2? and
SafeSpace go together nicely,
said Weinstock. I

Talk of moving local LGBT
groups together has been go-
ing on for some time. Last year,
R.U.l.2?, SafeSpace, Outright
(statewide organization for
LGBTQ youth), and Mountain
Pride Media, which publishes
01 TM, received a Unity Proj-
ect grant to help them decide
whether to merge. A consult-
ing firm was hired which
interviewed many staff and
volunteers, then issued a re-
port on the.results of their con-
versations. There was general
agreement that the organiza-
tions wanted to work together, —
although in what ways differed
for many involved and brought
forward many concerns. While
the groups did not receive a
second grant to pursue their ob-
jectives, R.U.1.2‘? and SafeSpace
agreed they were still interested
in working together, thus all
the extra meetings in recent

months.

Meno said the transition is
not due to financial difficulties
of either organization as both
are on solid footing. “We're
coming from a really positive
space,” she said. Possibly some
day there will be a larger space
for the two organizations to
share. But there are not fimds
for that now. One complaint
people had was that they can‘t
financially support so many dif-
ferent organizations.

“Here’s an opportunity for the
two to possibly become one,"
Weinstock said.

Meno said having separate
organizations is also taxing on
people's resources, with people
stretching their volunteer hours
to cover the needs.

Also, there are money
concerns.

“Our organizations are fine,
but we didn’t budget for this,”
Weinstock said. If the organiza-
tions decided to join legally and
one of them move, there would
be legal fees and moving costs.
A separate account has been
set up for donations, Meno
said. Eventually, money could
be saved by the two becoming
one organization. There could
be one directorinstead of two,
which would save some money,
although that director would
likely be paid more to run a
much larger organization.

Currently, R.U. 1.2? is operat-
ing on a $211,000 annual budget.
Halfway through the October-
September fiscal year, “believe

it or not, we’re almost exactly
on target,” said Kaufman, who
has decided to step down

as executive director this
year. He said R.U.1.2? wrote

a “really tight budget” because
they knew the Gill Founda-
tion would not be funding any
community centers this year.
One of R.U.1.2?’_s biggest suc-
cesses is diversifying its funding,

' Kaufman said. That way, if one

source of income doesn't come
through, “it's replaceable with-
out killing your agency,” he said.
“That’s another plus for join-
ing with Safespace," Kaufman
said. Combining the two would

V

 

sa espace

broaden the base of funders and
help make both organizations
more stable financially.
SafeSpace currently oper-
ates on a budget of about
$130,000, said Executive Direc-
tor Kara DeLeonardis, She said
by combining resources, the
two organizations will be able
to “reduce competition" for
funding. “Hopefully we can do
more with less,” she added.
Kaufman said the organiza-
tions have been having discus-
sions about some sort of joining
for at least three years.
“I'm really excited about it,"
he said. V