Local co-chairs for Creating Change in Philadelphia said at a meeting May 23 that they would like 75 people to join 16 subcommittees. About 20 people attended the first host committee meeting at the William Way LGBT Community Center.
The subcommittees for the conference, hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force, are expected to start working before the next host committee meeting June 21. Those interested in volunteering should contact Aneesah Smith at [email protected]. She works on LGBT services at West Chester University and serves as one of four co-chairs for the host committee
The other co-chairs include Naiymah Sanchez, coordinator of the Trans-Health Information Project at GALAEI: A Queer Latin@ Social Justice Organization; Le Thomas, president of Philadelphia Black Pride; and Samantha Giusti, executive director of DVLF, an LGBT philanthropy organization
Each co-chair is in charge of four subcommittees
• Smith: Volunteers, the youth hospitality suite, the bisexuality hospitality suite and community housing. Smith wants to sign up 500 volunteers. The community housing committee will locate 75 free beds for people who can’t afford to stay in a hotel for the conference
• Sanchez: Outreach and promotion, transgender hospitality suite, hospitality suite for people with disabilities and hospitality suite for people in recovery
• Thomas: Programming, hospitality suite for people of color, interfaith hospitality suite and interfaith services. Thomas said the local programming committee would handle the submissions of proposed workshops for the conference and ensure that Philadelphia and the surrounding counties have a strong presence in terms of presenting the activism from the area. The Task Force will have charge of deciding what workshops are ultimately approved for the conference
• Giusti: Older adults hospitality suite; local hospitality and information; communications, branding and marketing; and development and fundraising
Sue Hyde, director of Creating Change at the Task Force, sent a note recommending that volunteers choose only one subcommittee to join. Those who attended Monday’s meeting signed up for a subcommittee and picked the dates when each would meet. Smith said subcommittee members would likely meet or have a scheduled phone call at least once a week
Full host committee meetings will take place the third Tuesday every month. The conference is Jan. 18-22 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
For more information, visit www.creatingchange.org/host-committee-2017.