Wed, June 20 2007

David Henderson, Director of Communications
(212) 620-7310 X227
(917) 488-9086 cell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cathy Renna, 917-757-6123 cathy@rennacommunications.com

NOTE: Photos from the event are available by contacting Renna Communications

JUNE 20, 2007, NEW YORK-Last night at the annual Garden Party, the kick-off for Pride week and a fundraiser for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer announced three major allocations of capital funding totaling $9 million: $4 million each from the Mayor's office and New York City Council, and $1 million from Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringers office.

The funding will go toward the Center's capital expansion plan, with a goal of raising $50 million dollars. The campaign will allow the Center to expand its capacity to serve an ever-more diverse LGBT community and will also help create an endowment to ensure the Center's presence for future generations of LGBT New Yorkers.

"We are deeply appreciative of this powerful expression of support from the Mayor, from Speaker Christine Quinn, the entire City Council and from Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough President," said Richard Burns, Executive Director of the Center. "This funding is an exciting beginning to our capital expansion plan, and will help ensure a future of service to New York's LGBT community. We hope that this impressive commitment by the City of New York will inspire additional donations that will enable us to reach our expansion goal," stated Burns.

"For almost 25 years, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has led the way in both the fight for equality and in day to day support for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who benefit from its services. The LGBT Center is one place everyone in the Community knows they can turn. I am proud to support that outstanding record of service to this City with a $1 million capital grant from my office and look forward to our continuing work together for the LGBT Community," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says of the Center.

About the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center:
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center provides a home for the birth, nurture and celebration of our organizations, institutions and culture; cares for our individuals and groups in need; educates the public and our community; and empowers our individuals and groups to achieve their fullest potential.

We provide groundbreaking social service, public policy, educational and cultural/recreational programs. We also serve as an incubator for grassroots groups that meet here. Indeed, we were the birthplace of organizations such as the AIDS activist group ACT UP, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and more recently Immigration Equality.

Established in 1983, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has grown to become the largest LGBT multi-service organization on the East Coast and second largest LGBT community center in the world. Every week, 6,000 people visit the Center, and more than 300 groups meet here. In addition, our myriad meeting rooms are booked months in advance, indicating the community is as hungry as ever for a place to call its own.

About the Center's Capital Campaign:
The Center's Capital Campaign - which will be launched officially in 2008, its 25th anniversary year - will result in a new five-story facility to be built on the under-used western portion of the Center's property, as well as a significant endowment to ensure the Center's future.

For twenty-four years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has been an integral part of the cultural, social and political infrastructure of New York City: celebrating LGBT culture by exposing audiences to emerging artists, authors, songwriters, and dancers; collaborating with numerous organizations and agencies, such as the New York City Department of Education and high schools around the area; developing diversity trainings for community and corporate organizations; providing affordable and culturally relevant mental health, recovery, education and prevention and support services, HIV/AIDS related services and crystal meth intervention and prevention programs; acting as an engine of social change through the empowerment of individuals and the incubation of grassroots efforts; and maintaining a safe haven for LGBT youth, adults and their families to discover and achieve their fullest potential.

The demand for youth programs and services has increased dramatically over the past five years while space constraints have precluded the Center's ability to accommodate this growth. Adult mental health services and critical educational programs have operated at capacity for the past three years. Completion of phase II of its master capital plan will enable the Center to expand its scope and reach, and continue these essential contributions for the next twenty-five years and beyond.

About the Center

Established in 1983, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center of New York City builds and supports our community through health, advocacy, and cultural programs; meeting and conference services; referrals and resources; and a safe and welcoming environment.

Our community support and encouragement leads to the long term incubation of other organizations (ACT-UP, GLAAD, Gay Men of African Descent and more); the development of our own pioneering projects, including The Pat Parker/Vito Russo Library, The National Gay and Lesbian Archives, and Center CARE Recovery, the first licensed LGBT-specific recovery center in the state; and the cross-pollination of the LGBT community and the general population’s political, government and non-profit organizations, such as Causes in Common, our association of LGBT and reproductive rights groups.

More than 6,000 New Yorkers pass through out doors each week (14 hours a day, seven days a week year-round) to relax in our garden, attend a concert or lecture, evaluate the latest advocacy issues, seek counseling, or simply check their email at the David Bohnett Cyber Center. Three hundred organizations – from singles groups to political clubs to twelve-step programs – make the Center their home.

For a full schedule of programs and events, select an event calendar of your choosing from the main menu at the top of the page, or visit us in person at 208 W. 13th Street in Manhattan, or call our information and referral desk at (212) 620-7310.