<\/p>\n
The numbers are in \u2014 LGBT community centers are kicking butt and taking names across the country, but they\u2019re not as strong as they could be.<\/p>\n
The 2012 LGBT Community Center Survey Report came out this last month. It was coordinated by CenterLink, a Fort Lauderdale based LGBT community center advocate, and by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a research conglomerate intended to give LGBT advocates the resources they need. The two organizations solicited 200 LGBT community centers they estimated were active across the U.S. Of those, only 79 responded, giving a worthwhile picture of how LGBT centers are doing.<\/p>\n
One of the most significant findings is that these centers serve around 1.7 million people annually, or a collective 33,000 people a week, or so.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important that people understand the work that community centers are doing, in many times with limited resources,\u201d said Denise Spivak, CenterLink\u2019s director of membership about the numbers that the report provides. \u201cIt\u2019s vitally important for the centers, so they can use it to let their communities know what\u2019s going on, and for donors to know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey is conducted once every two years. But it\u2019s hard for all community centers to join in, said MAP\u2019s LGBT Movement and Policy Researcher Naomi Goldberg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe survey is a time commitment when you look at the breadth of the report,\u201d she said. \u201cFor centers that don\u2019t have the budget to have full time employees, it\u2019s hard to find the time to complete the survey.\u201d Goldberg added, however, that getting almost half of the centers to respond is a good sign.<\/p>\n
Goldberg explained that one of the most important findings to her was figuring out who\u2019s going to the centers and using the resources they offer. While the numbers showed a diverse collection of different types of people, the results were disproportionately people of color, male, transgender, and of low-income.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho comes to an LGBT center is a really important question,\u201d she said. \u201cThese people are usually not the ones writing big checks.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the people writing the checks are the ones who will be using the report. According to the centers, the main purposes of agreeing to be surveyed were for the community, for the LGBT movement and for funders.\u00a0 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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