3rd Annual Faith Alliance Prayer Breakfast
Come and celebrate faith and social justice efforts at the 3rd Annual Faith Alliance Prayer Breakfast!
The Faith Alliance Committee of the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center invites people of all faiths to join together for a continental breakfast! The public is invited to this interfaith gathering at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, at First United Methodist Church (corner of Park and Academy Streets). This will be a time of prayer, music, and local concern for public policy and practice that includes all persons in common pursuit of happiness. Julie Rogers, newly-elected Kalamazoo County Commissioner, will be our keynote speaker.
For more information, contact (269) 327-6643.
2012 REACH Award Winners Announced
The Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center would like to congratulate the individuals who have been selected as REACH Award winners for 2012. These individuals represent the best of the best in Retail, Education, Ally, Community, Humanitarian and Faith Awards.
RETAIL AWARD
Evolve Visual Design, LLC - Tammy Collins
After seven years in the graphic design field, Tammy Collins founded Evolve Visual Design in 2002. Evolve specializes in the design of corporate communications, working primarily with companies such as SC Johnson, Baxter Medical and FreedomRoad Financial. Tammy has a long history of partnering with the LGBT community - mostly on a reduced-rate or pro-bono basis - starting with Milwaukee Pride when she lived in Wisconsin and growing ever since she moved to the Kalamazoo area in 2003.
Some of Evolve’s local LGBT clients include: Kalamazoo Alliance For Equality, Arcus Foundation, Equality Michigan, Michigan Fairness Forum, OutCenter, the WMU Office of LBGT Student Services, Kalamazoo Pride and most predominantly, the Resource Center. Since 2008, Tammy has created all marketing and branding materials for the resource center — entirely on a volunteer basis. Aside from her design work, she and her wife Amy have been on the Pride steering committee for the past two years and have also been facilitators with the KGLRC’s youth group program.
We are giving the Retail Award to Tammy because of her extraordinary dedication to the work of the KGLRC. Tammy Collins is responsible for creating the wonderful image of our work. Due to Tammy’s dedication and creative mind, the KGLRC looks professional and beautiful at all times.
TERRY KUSESKE EDUCATION AWARD
Jen Hsu
Jen Hsu transitioned into her new role as coordinator of LBGT Student Services at Western Michigan University in 2012. Collaborating with KGLRC and GAME, the Office of LBGT Student Services co-sponsored Fall Fab Fest and welcomed over 300 KVCC, WMU and Kalamazoo College students to a new school year. This fall, Jen worked to create a number of new programs including the First Year Pride Alliance to help first year LGBTA students make a successful transition to campus life and the Student Advisory Council to meet with and help inform university policies and programs affecting LGBT-inclusion.
Jen also worked with local businesses to organize the first LBGTA Diversity Career Fair in early November as part of a “Ready to Work” series, preparing students for success after graduation. Jen recently worked with local campus faith leaders to organize the Campaign for Love that asked students to make a pledge to stand with those to help create faith communities that are welcoming of the LGBT community and to speak from love, instead of hate. There’s still more work to do and Jen looks forward to continuing to serve Kalamazoo and the greater Southwest Michigan community.
Jen has brought the Office of LBGT Student Services to new heights. Building on the foundation of those before her, she has been able to provide extraordinary programming and community collaboration through her role. She is instrumental in creating an accepting environment on the campus of Western Michigan University, and we proudly give her the Terry Kuseske Education Award to honor her work.
ALLY AWARD
Nicole Ogrin
Nicole Ogrin is a lifelong resident of Kalamazoo. She has worked in the financial service sector for the past ten years at PNC Bank and has been involved in community service for even longer. Her inspiration for service comes from her family and their investment in the betterment of the Kalamazoo community. Nicole has been involved with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Dress For A Cure. At PNC, she works with the PNC Diversity & Inclusion Council to find ways to have an open & affirming work place.
Nicole Ogrin is receiving the Ally Award because of the countless hours of volunteer work she has put into the Resource Center since 2011. As the chair of our Special Events Committee, Nicole plans and executes major events for the KGLRC. She has been part of the Pride Steering Committee two consecutive years and planned the Winter Gala event in 2011 and 2012. She has also been responsible for the Alpha Event in both 2011 and 2012. In addition to this work, Nicole has participated in the Triangle Mentorship Program and regularly volunteers her time for other events at the KGLRC.
COMMUNITY AWARD
Triangle Mentorship Program
The Triangle Mentorship Program is a first of its kind program through the KGLRC that provides mentorship to young LGBT and Ally youth. Due to the work of Tracy Hall, the program began with over 15 youth involved and over 30 adult mentors. These mentors provided much needed support to LGBT youth in the area, as well as logged many hours working with them to achieve their goals. All of this work was made possible because of the immense dedication of Tracy Hall. As the former Program Director for the KGLRC, Tracy brought the programming of the KGLRC to new heights. She has now left the KGLRC to pursue her PhD at Western Michigan University.
We are awarding the Community Award to the First Year Mentors from the Triangle Mentorship Program due to their extraordinary commitment to LGBT youth in Kalamazoo. Our mentors have been able to provide much needed comfort and support to their mentees. We are proud to call them our mentors and are pleased to present them with this award.
JIM KNOX HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz
Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz created Pride Source Media Group in 1995 to acquire the newly created Between The Lines newspaper. Over the past 18 years, Pride Source has become the primary media outlet in Michigan serving the LGBT community. Pride Source publishes Between The Lines every week, the annual Pride Source Yellow Pages every June and has created www.PrideSource.com, which is widely recognized as one of the most popular LGBT websites in the Midwest. Jan & Susan run the day-to-day operations and are actively involved in community organizing for the LGBT community in Michigan.
We are awarding the Jim Knox Humanitarian Award to Jan and Susan due to their tremendous work for the LGBT community. Their work extends across the country and is not limited to Michigan. Jan was the first executive director of Affirmations, Detroit’s LGBT community center, and has served on the boards of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the Gilmour Fund. Susan was the first executive director of the New Festival, New York’s annual gay and lesbian film festival and served in that position from 1989 to 1993. She has also served on the boards of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Seacoast AIDS Resource Center and Affirmations. Combined, the two have made a tremendous impact on the LGBT community, and we thank them for their extraordinary work.
FATIH AWARD
Joe and Nancy Calme
Joe and Nancy Calme are longtime members at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church in Portage, Michigan. Joe and Nancy have served the church in a number of roles. Joe is currently leading the Welcoming Congregation program at UUCC, which includes intentional steps recommended by the Unitarian Universalist Association for congregations to become more welcoming and inclusive of people with marginalized sexual orientations and gender identities. Nancy is supporting this effort with the rest of the congregation. Nancy and Joe are retired from Pfizer and currently reside in Cassopolis where they are building a hobby farm.
We are awarding the Faith Award to Joe and Nancy Calme due to their influential work at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church. We believe that anyone taking on the powerful work of creating an open and affirming environment in a faith community is important to the LGBT community. The Calmes have done fantastic work leading the UUCC in Portage to officially become open and affirming. We thank them for their extraordinary work.
Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance planned for Kalamazoo community
KALAMAZOO—The Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center’s recognition of the National Transgender
Day of Remembrance will take place from 4 to 6 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 18, in the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance is a national memorial observance for the transgender brothers and sisters that have been lost due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice over the past year. This free event for anyone who supports the transgender community allows participants to come together to raise awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, recognize diversity and build community.
Jaime M. Grant, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership and lead author of “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey” will give a keynote address. Hundreds of dramatic findings on the impact of anti-transgender bias are presented in the report, such as 90% of those surveyed reported experiencing harassment, mistreatment, or discrimination in the workplace. Grant will showcase transgender discrimination research specific to Michigan and offer tips on what supporters can do to address it.
New this year, organizations from the Kalamazoo community will have tables where representatives will explain their services and offer information. Additionally, the memorial will include live music and poetry as well as a candlelight vigil led by Cassandra How of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Portage.
Parking will be available behind the building or on the street.
In addition to the KGLRC, participating community partners include Ministry with Community, YWCA, WMU Office of LBGT Student Services, OUTspoken at WMU and Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Additional reservations for tables are available and should be made by Nov. 12 by calling the KGLRC.
For more information about the event, contact David Topping, program coordinator, at (269) 349-4234.
Jay Maddock Named New Program Director
The KGLRC is excited to announce, after a long and exhaustive search, that our new Program Director is Jay Maddock, BSW. Formerly of Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan, Jay Maddock has previously spent his time coordinating the Calhoun County Coalition for Inclusion in Battle Creek, MI.
Jay Maddock comes to the KGLRC with new energy and immense experience working with youth and people of color. “I’m very excited to continue the great work that the KGLRC has been doing in the Kalamazoo community. I find myself very fortunate to be picking up this role after the bar was set so high by my predecessor, Tracy Hall, and at a time of growth for the Resource Center,” says Jay. Jay’s previous work was developing and strengthening the Calhoun County Coalition for Inclusion, a gathering of church leaders, educators, mental health professionals, social service agencies, students, youth, advocates, and community members who are dedicated to creating a welcoming, inclusive and affirming community for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer youth in Calhoun County.
“One of the opportunities that I’m most looking forward to, is the chance to become more deeply vested in the transgender community, which I think has been overlooked for quite some time, but now we have the fortuity to take on new programming and expand our reach,” says Maddock. Maddock’s primary responsibility will be developing and implementing new programming, while also overseeing the Triangle Mentorship Program. The Triangle Mentorship Program is the KGLRC’s trademark program for LGBT and Allied youth, pairing them up with two mentors to provide them with LGBT and Allied role models.
Maddock is excited to begin work. “The KGLRC is in a place of growth, and I couldn’t be happier to be joining such an amazing team of hard-working activists. I can’t wait to start this new chapter!” Jay Maddock will begin at the KGLRC on November 1st, 2012.
Letter from Board: Updating Bylaw
Supporters of the KGLRC:
The Board of Directors of the Kalamazoo Gay and Lesbian Resource Center is in the process of changing the Center’s legal documents to better reflect how the Center actually operates. We highly value our supporters and want you to be aware of this process.
When the Center was incorporated in 1988, its Articles of Incorporation stated that it was structured as a “membership” corporation. A membership corporation is supposed to have members who vote on certain matters and a Board of Directors that manages the business of the Center. The Center for many years, however, has had a Board of Directors that has made all decisions regarding the Center, including decisions that would normally be made by the members in a membership corporation.
The Board of Directors of the Center, therefore, wishes to change the legal structure of the Center to match its actual method of operations. This means that the Center will no longer be legally structured as a membership corporation but instead as a “directorship corporation,” in which all decisions are made by the Board of Directors.
To make this change will require that the Board amend the Center’s Bylaws and its Articles of Incorporation. The Board plans to take this action in the coming months. The first step will be to amend the Center’s Bylaws to permit the Directors to approve this change in structure. When this has been accomplished, the Directors will vote to amend the Articles of Incorporation to change the Center’s structure to a directorship corporation.
This change will not alter the Center’s relationship with its supporters, donors, volunteers and participants in the many activities of the Center or with any members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender community in Southwest Michigan. You are all an important and valued part of our community and are welcome at all events, activities and support groups of the Center. You are also invited to provide comments to the Board on any matters involving the operation and/or activities of the Center.
If you have any questions about the changes to the Center’s Bylaws or Articles of Incorporation, feel free to contact Executive Director Zach Bauer at [email protected]or 269-349-4234 or any of the members of the Board’s Executive Committee: Co-presidents Mary Harper ([email protected]) and Carol Anderson ([email protected]), Treasurer Jonathan Richardson ([email protected]) and Secretary Margaret DeRitter ([email protected]).
We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at the Winter Gala on December 15 at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors of the Kalamazoo Gay and Lesbian Resource Center
“KNOW US PROJECT” Training in Kalamazoo
An educational program of the Michigan Project for Informed Public Policy (MPIPP), the KNOW US PROJECT conversations are about telling personal stories about what it has been like to experience discrimination, bias, prejudice, or even hate crimes.
The Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center is sponsoring the event with MPIPP to teach effective ways to express the stories of LGBT people and our allies. Your personal story can empower you to change public policy and opinion by building support for equality on a grassroots level.
KUP training is unique in that it helps LGBT people and their allies to prepare for personal KUP conversations by teaching appropriate conversational skills and by addressing participants’ possible emotional responses to having these conversations.
The goal of the KUP is to improve the understanding by ordinary Americans of the stigma and discrimination faced by people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) and their allies. As individuals become sensitized to the mental health consequences of discrimination and stigma, research tells us that they are more likely to actively support public policy regarding equality for LGBT people.
The KNOW US PROJECT training will be conducted as an evening workshop, facilitated by Judith Snow, M.A. and Mary Anderson, Ph.D.
Dewing 103 – Kalamazoo College
1200 Academy Street
Thursday, September 20
6:45 to 9:30 p.m.
This will be a free workshop available to all, regardless of your identity. If you are interested in attending, please register with David Topping at [email protected]. For more information, check out the flyer here.
The hope of the KNOW US PROJECT is that at some point in the not-too-distant future, the critical mass of public support will grow as the “moveable middle” pushes for change in LGBT public policy and makes social stigma less acceptable. This change will be founded on science-based knowledge and a better understanding of the damaging impact of cultural and legal discrimination against LGBT people.
The Importance of the 2012 Michigan Supreme Court Election
The Michigan Supreme Court is our state’s court of last resort. Only cases of the utmost importance – those that will have a significant impact on the state and its people — are heard by the justices. Each case and every decision, whether it is about neighborhood safety, pensions, or family issues, has the potential to impact every citizen.
That is why the November 6 general election is so important. Three of the seven seats on the Michigan Supreme Court are up for election this year, setting the stage for a potential change in how the court operates and decides cases.
Everyone in Michigan deserves a fair shake in our justice system. Therefore, we encourage you to use the time between now and November 6 to become familiar with the candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court and cast a ballot for the candidates you believe are in the best position to bring fairness and integrity to our state’s highest court.
Learn more about how to vote