Advocacy
About the Public Policy and Government Relations Department
About the Public Policy and Government Relations Department
Since its formation in 1994, the mission of the Public Policy &
Government Relations Department is to integrate a progressive vision
into the work of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community
Center and into the larger LGBT movement. What distinguishes our
department from other public policy institutions, however, is our
particular location within the community and the movement. What does it
mean to be the Public Policy & Government Relations Department of
the second largest LGBT community center in the world?
- It means that we have the ability to be dynamic because we have a direct connection to over 6,000 constituents who visit the building every week and who are able to help us identify their most pressing needs and concerns or their grandest visions from which we can then build a public policy advocacy campaign, initiative or on-going program. Our policy work happens everyday on the street, in the halls of our community center, and in the counseling rooms of our social service providers.
- It means that we are diverse. Our experience working in the most diverse city of the world means that we've cultivated a progressive vision which can never be based on just a single issue - but one that understands the connections between all oppressions.
- It means that we are able to be a strong leader in the city, state, federal and world-wide stage. Our Center is a model for LGBT organizing and has hosted guests from as far as Japan to as close as Philadelphia. Using a social justice and human rights framework, we've taken leadership around HIV/AIDS, LGBT families, reproductive justice, voter mobilization, transgender liberation, advocacy for people in recovery and coalition building. With over ten years of lessons, resources, and vision to share, we have the ability to effect change well beyond our walls.