The William Way LGBT Community Center board of directors has been engaged in a committed process to conduct due diligence to consider the proposal for LGBT Senior Housing submitted to us by Pennrose Properties and the Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund.
Obviously, resources gathered for the purpose of supporting LGBT seniors are desperately needed to make an impact on the needs of the growing population of LGBT citizens who are 55 and older. We expect these needs only to grow in the upcoming decade. No one would disagree that a housing program for the LGBT seniors of Philadelphia is generally a good idea.
Nonetheless, the issues before the board of directors of the center include whether building such a senior center adjacent and directly above the center’s property would be in the best interests of the mission and fiscal health of the center. The board has a fiduciary duty and duty to the center’s mission and must consider all of the facts before it makes an informed decision. We take this decision very seriously.
The board has engaged attorneys at Regional Housing Legal Services (www.rhls.org/) to help us answer these questions. These independent attorneys specialize in helping nonprofit organizations evaluate housing programs like the one proposed by Pennrose and Hirschfeld. RHLS attorneys are assisting the board in making sure that we identify and answer as many questions as possible prior to our decision.
As part of our deliberative process, we conducted a board retreat on Oct. 9, with the assistance of a neutral and outside facilitator, and we conducted a town hall at the center on Oct. 13, to hear the opinions of our stakeholders and the community-at-large. A transcript of the community town hall will be created so that interested parties can review the questions and concerns. This document will be available on our website after the town hall at www.waygay.org. We also welcome written comments and/or questions sent to the center, 1315 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19107, or by e-mail to [email protected].
We want to be clear to our community and stakeholders that the board has made no decision regarding this project at this time, and all decisions will await the input of the community on Oct. 13 and any written feedback that comes to us prior to our next board meeting on Oct. 26.
With such a tremendous possibility placed before us, we are assessing all the potential and real opportunities and risks to the mission of the William Way LGBT Community Center before we make our decision. We pledge to keep the community’s concerns front and center as we deliberate, and we will be transparent about both our process and future decisions.
Chris Bartlett, executive director Emilie Carr and David Michelson, co-chairs William Way LGBT Community Center board of directors