Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - November 12, 2004
Johanna Lunglhofer
"We're doing well," Bruce Weiss, SMYAL's executive director, says. "But I don't want to say we're doing so well that people can breathe a sigh of relief and stop helping."
Facing the same economic downturn that hit the rest of the nation, Weiss tries to be realistic, but also optimistic.
"In our heads, we like to see SMYAL as a little engine, the little train that could," he says of the organization created 20 years ago to help youth and young adults from ages 13 to 21 in metropolitan Washington.
Since Weiss joined SMYAL as director in August 2003, the group and its headquarters on Capitol Hill have undergone considerable changes. Weiss said that despite the cost, the nearly total renovation of SMYAL's buildings, staffing increases and recently initiated cooperative efforts with other organizations that want to help gay youths have been more than worth the time and work.
SMYAL, which was founded in 1984, is a non-profit organization created to assist gay youths in metropolitan Washington, D.C. Its current annual budget is just over $1 million, an official there said.
This year's fall brunch fund-raiser is sponsored by Freddie Mac, a corporation chartered by Congress in 1970 to funnel money to mortgage lenders in an effort to support homeownership and rental housing.
Hundreds expected to attend
About 500 people are expected to assemble at the Mayflower Hotel in Northwest Washington from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. for the fund-raiser brunch.
Weiss said all the money raised, including from the $85 per person ticket price, will be used to support existing SMYAL programs such as the youth center social time, a tobacco-prevention initiative and HIV/AIDS education seminars. The funds also will pay for developing SMYAL outreach programs in Maryland and Virginia.
The bulk of the money raised at the brunch will come from a silent auction. Brunch co-chair and SMYAL board member Octavio Espinal said more than 60 items - double the number available at last year's brunch - will be available for bidding.
The items include tickets to see Cher and the Village People in concert on Dec. 11 at the MCI Center, gay film festival passes, and several weekend getaways to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, Provincetown, Mass., and South Beach, Fla.
In response to the increased financial burden that comes with expansion, Weiss said SMYAL's focus is shifting toward more collaboration than has been attempted in the past. The staff has forged partnerships in the D.C. suburbs with the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry and the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
"Unfortunately, there's not the same level of infrastructure in Maryland," Weiss says. He and other SMYAL employees are still working to identify existing gay-straight alliances north of Washington.
"The needs of the LGBTIQ community in the Washington area are vast and diverse," SMYAL board member Espinal says. "We need the support of the community in order for SMYAL to address them."
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