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History of the Community Center Movement
History of the Community Center Movement
When the first lesbian and gay community
centers in the country opened their doors in 1971 in Los Angeles, CA and
Albany, NY, their premise was revolutionary: that lesbian and gay people
deserve to live open, fulfilling and honest lives free of discrimination
and bigotry, with access to culturally appropriate social services, as
equal partners in the cultural and civic life of the community. During
the early and mid 1970s, gays and lesbians in a dozen other cities staked
similar claims and launched community centers. Offering everything from
"coming out" support groups, to health clinics and meeting space
for community organizing, centers became the hub of community activity
and the catalysts for progressive social change.
As AIDS ravaged the gay men's community in the mid 1980s, the 30-odd centers
were at the forefront of HIV care giving, education, prevention, and advocacy.
Even as the demographics of the epidemic shifted to non-gay inner-city
populations and other at-risk groups, LGBT centers continued providing
HIV services to all. Today, many of these earliest centers are still the
major urban provider of AIDS-related services and prevention efforts.
Throughout the 1990s, the community center movement spread to increasingly
smaller cities and towns. By 2000, nearly half the 100 community centers
were their area's only staffed non-profit LGBT presence - the first point
of contact for people seeking information, coming out, accessing services
or organizing for political change. The diversity of programs and services
offered by centers (and their financial stability) reflected the unique
needs and interests of the communities they served.
History of CenterLink
Begun in 1987 as an informal gathering of leaders from LGBT community
centers during the annual conference of the National Gay and Lesbian Health
Association, CenterLink (known then as the National Association of LGBT Community Centers/NALGBTCC) provided an annual forum for peer support
and the exchange of ideas. In 1994, as part of the celebrations marking
the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, representatives of more
than thirty centers gathered for an all-day meeting at the Lesbian &
Gay Community Services Center of New York.
Led by the centers in New York, Minneapolis, Denver and Los Angeles, CenterLink was more formally created as a dues-paying membership
organization offering regularly scheduled national and regional meetings
designed to provide peer-based technical assistance and networking opportunities.
Without paid national staff or offices, CenterLink relied
for many years on the leadership and coordination efforts of an annually
elected Executive Committee comprised of seven executive directors of
member centers.
In 2000, in recognition of the larger number of new centers and the expansion
of CenterLink's role into areas of program development (Promote the
Vote, and nationally-managed tobacco cessation efforts), CenterLink
took several steps to better serve our member centers. CenterLink
incorporated, received its IRS tax-exempt status, created by-laws, and
developed job descriptions and work plans in anticipation of the hiring
of a national staff.
CenterLink Today
In January 2004, CenterLink hired its first executive director and opened a national office in Washington, DC. Since then a program director has also come on board. In the past few years, Association staff has provided technical assistance, networking opportunities and leadership skills-building training to LGBT community centers throughout the U.S. on a broad range of topics related to nonprofit management, organization development and LGBT programs and issue areas.
A recent comprehensive evaluation of technical assistance provided to centers in the past few years has enabled CenterLink to reframe our service delivery to better target and more effectively meet the capacity building needs of LGBT community centers. To that end, CenterLink has developed a menu of technical assistance strategies from which to choose, including:
- Leadership skills-building training with center executive directors and board leadership
- Statewide organizational capacity and coalition building in partnership with state LGBT advocacy organizations
- Organizational needs assessment, planning and training with small and mid-size centers
- An initiative focused on building a multicultural, anti-racist community center movement
- A workshop track in addition to the Community Center Training Institute at the national Creating Change conference of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
With 150 established and emerging LGBT community centers throughout the U.S., CenterLink continues to develop the organizational and advocacy capacity of these identity-affirming and life-saving community-based organizations and to help unify an ever-expanding and inclusive LGBT community center movement.
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