New Vintage Advisory Council Seated
On September 3 the Vintage Advisory Council met
in it's official capacity for the first time. The purpose
of this group is to provide direction, advice, guidance
and support in the ongoing development of the Senior Services
Program at the DeFrank Center, and to advocate on behalf
of the LGBT 50+ population. The group functions in an
advisory capacity to the Senior Services Coordinator,
Program Director and Executive Director.
 The
Council's Chairperson is Chris Merryman, Vice-Chairperson
Arlene Rusche and Secretary Clay Wilson. Additional
Council seats are filled by Bob Jefsen, Ken Anderson,
Madeline Damiano, and Bruce
Hassell. Diane Lindberg, City of San Jose Parks, Recreation
and Neighborhood Services Community Supervisor, will
also serve on the Council.
The work done by the members of the Vintage group to
get the Council guidelines written and to seat the Council
was extraordinary! The spirit of cooperation made short
work of the process and allowed the Council to begin
working immediately. Their goals for the upcoming year
include ensuring that program contractual goals are
met and to assist in finding funding sources to ensure
the continued work of the Seniors program. They will
also be involved in expanding the social activities
for the 50+ population and finding ways to strengthen
overall programming.
|
The
City of San Jose, California has shown unprecedented support
of the 50+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gender community.
For the second year the City has allotted over $71,000.00
for the running of the Vintage Luncheon Program at the
Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center.
During
weeks of deliberation, the City Council and Healthy Neighborhoods
Venture Fund Advisory Committee, led by Committee Chair
Pat Dando, poured over thousands of grant proposals for
City programming. There were 35 million dollars of proposals
submitted to the Committee for just over 8 million dollars
in funds to be distributed. The decision making process
was arduous and members of the committee expressed their
frustration and having to make these difficult decisions.
