The LGBT Elder Initiative, founded two-and-a-half years ago to advance services and resources for LGBT older adults, earlier this month named its inaugural board.
LGBTEI elected Heshie Zinman as chair, Helen Dow as vice chair, Bruce Bonner as treasurer and Terri Clark as secretary.
Also joining the inaugural board are Jaci Adams, Ada Bello, Ed Bomba, Gloria Casarez, John Cunningham, Diane Menio, Theo Schall, Bob Schoenberg and David Webber.
Zinman, who was involved in the planning for the LGBT Aging Summit in 2010, the impetus for the organization’s launch, co-chaired the agency with Clark since its founding. He said the formation of the board will be important to formalizing the agency’s work.
“The most important goal is to work to create a structure for the Elder Initiative to be able to attract and grow the programs and implement our goals, which are to create culturally competent services, institutions and resources for LGBT older adults and allies,” he said. “I hope we can grow into the future.”
Dow, who is also a founding member, said she plans to focus on increasing the organization’s outreach.
“I want to reach as many folks aged 50-plus with good news about EI and the great resources and rich information available to them,” she said. “EI allows each of us to bring something to the table and for me, it is my goal to help and advocate for those who may not be able to speak for themselves. My desire is to make a real difference in my life and most importantly in the lives of others.”
Clark joined the organization during its first year as well and played a large part in the development of its Silver Rainbow Project and Conversations series.
Clark said she hopes to build on those and other programs the LGBTEI offers.
“I hope to expand services, expand work throughout the state, build on program capacity and possibly develop a webinar series,” she said. “Hopefully we will forge relationships with other aging-service providers and have collaborations with them. We want to be responsive to our community’s needs. We are always looking for feedback from our community and hearing their voices and trying to make our programs accessible and welcoming.”
Bonner joined the organization three months ago.
He has a background in corporate and financial management and said he will put those experiences to use at LGBTEI.
“Transparency is a key issue in financials. We should be transparent to the outside community,” he said. “I also hope to develop partnerships with other organizations and have grant-funded initiatives and grow the organization.”
Bonner said the agency will not only be transparent with financials, but will also continue to be open to the community’s interests.
“I think the organization needs to have a degree of inquisitiveness and listen to the community to see where the needs are,” he said. “We’re not just mission-driven from our own perspective but also to the community and I think the board has shown just that.”
Since its inception, Zinman noted the organization has launched a community-discussion series held six times a year, a cultural-competence training program for aging-services providers and a number of other initiatives.
The group is also developing its website to provide resources on everything from housing to medical information to legal assistance.
“Our hope is that now that we have a board of directors with committees, we will attract more volunteers who could help us grow our programs because there is a tremendous need,” Zinman said.
For more information, visit www.lgbtei.org, and email [email protected] for volunteer opportunities.