Creating a Cycle of Change
We School in Schools
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
Stephen Jimenez, Project 10 Specialist
The nation’s second largest school district, LAUSD has partnered with the Center to help end LGBT youth suicide and reduce homophobia in school.
The collaboration, dubbed Project SPIN (Suicide Prevention Intervention Now), was initiated by the Center following a horrible rash of LGBT youth suicides.
Sara Train, the Center’s Project SPIN Coordinator, works with a task force consisting of 25 partnering organizations to offer trainings on topics such as LGBT 101, bullying and suicide-prevention for teachers, administrators and parents.
“When LGBT students go to a school where the teachers and administrators know the truth about LGBT people and have made a commitment to creating an accepting, inclusive environment, it makes a huge difference!” says Stephen Jimenez, Project 10 Specialist at LAUSD.
“It means kids can feel accepted. It means they can let their guard down and express themselves openly. It means that all students can feel safe.”
Making the World a Better Place for LGBT People
By Lorri L. Jean, CEO
“I had no idea the Center did that!” It’s amazing how often I hear this statement, especially when one considers that the Center has been serving our community for more than four decades. By now, everyone ought to know what we do, right?
Yet far too many people have no idea about the impressive breadth of our programs and services. Plus, the Center is so dynamic that our services are always evolving to better meet the needs of our community.
Perhaps one of our least-known areas of work is how we leverage our expertise to impact people far beyond the confines of our five locations. We know that the Center, alone, cannot care for everyone who needs us or affect the type of change we yearn for in our society. So we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to strategically expand our influence.
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Corporate Support: We Can Take It to the Bank!
By Stevie St. John
For the Center’s newest board member, supporting LGBT youth is right on the money.
Longtime banking professional and Wells Fargo executive Kin Cheng, 40, is the Center’s newest board member, representing the Center’s most generous corporate sponsor. Cheng is a Vice President and Relationship Manager in the Wells Fargo Commercial Bank providing expert financial advice and services to companies based in the greater Los Angeles region.
In a way, joining the board means coming full circle for Cheng. He was one of the first volunteer mentors for LifeWorks—then a separate organization, now a Center program—in 2005. Now, Cheng has joined longtime LifeWorks supporter Kevin P. Berg as a co-chair of Life Out Loud, a huge street party on the backlot of Paramount Pictures that benefits LifeWorks’ youth programming.
No Street Noise Laws at this ‘Modern Vintage’ Street Party
By Catherine Davie
If you live on the West Coast, you won’t have to take a five-hour plane ride to walk the streets of New York this summer. On Saturday, June 23, LifeWorks, the Center’s youth development and mentoring program, will host its seventh annual Life Out Loud event on the historic New York Street of the Paramount Studios backlot.
”We’re taking over Paramount’s amazing New York Street to create a ‘modern vintage’ party experience unlike any other,” says Center Board Member and event co-chair Kin Cheng. “While strolling through the Big Apple, guests will enjoy hosted cocktails, live entertainment, street performers, food from contemporary street carts and a few surprises.”
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Hot Topics
Obama Supports Marriage Equality
By Karen Ocamb
In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, President Barack Obama recently announced that he now supports the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.
The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.
The president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.
Early this month, more than 2,200 people from 16 countries will pedal their way from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise much-needed funds to support the HIV/AIDS-related services of the Center and San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The participants in AIDS/LifeCyle, a life-changing 545-mile bike ride, will also raise awareness about the continued need for funding to fight HIV and care for those living with it.
This year, it’s easy to share the incredible event experience without having to train … without even having to own a bike! In addition to the more than 2,200 cyclists and 600+ volunteer “roadie” support crew, the moving city of AIDS/LifeCycle will include an embedded press corps—a group of content creators who will travel with the ride and share inspiring stories, pictures and videos throughout the seven-day event.
Their work will be featured on the AIDS/LifeCyce website, aidslifecycle.org, and on its social media channels, beginning Sunday, June 3.
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HIV Care Patient: ‘Without the Center, I Wouldn’t Be Alive’
By Stevie St. John
This month, AIDS/LifeCycle—a 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles—will raise millions to support the Center’s vital, and often life-saving, HIV/AIDS-related services. These services include HIV testing, prevention services, and free or low-cost specialty medical care for people living with HIV.
After unexpectedly testing positive for HIV at the age of 19, Daniel Berilla became one of the 2,400 people who rely on the Center’s Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic for their medical care.
Berilla had no friends or family for support—in fact, he didn’t know anyone in L.A. besides his boyfriend and after he learned Berilla was positive, their relationship crumbled.
“I thought that if I left this world that no one would care,” Berilla, now 22, says. “Sometimes I would go to the roof of my apartment complex and think about jumping. I felt so isolated, and I thought I had no future.”
Putting an HIV-Prevention Pill to the Test
By Stevie St. John
Over the next four years, the Center will participate in the country’s largest research study to test the potential of a pill that could protect some people from becoming infected with HIV.
The treatment is a two-drug combination pill known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, and marketed under the brand name Truvada. In L.A. County, it will be offered to gay and bisexual men and transgender women at a heightened risk of exposure to HIV.
“With more than 50,000 new HIV infections nationally each year, we must use every tool in our toolbox to combat the epidemic,” says Center Medical Director Dr. Robert Bolan.
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Learning Curve
Wealth & Security
From Work to Retirement
Realities of Planning for Retirement Course topics include: understanding how to manage retirement income, longevity risks, Social Security, purchasing power, long-term investments, anticipating healthcare needs and so much more.
Instructor: Grant Gochin.
WORKSHOP
Tuesday, June 26, 7-9 p.m.
Enrollment Fee: $25
(Registration closes at 5 p.m. on 6/25)
I Do, Don’t I?
Understanding Marriage and Domestic Partnerships in California
Do you and your future partner know the laws that will apply to you? Learn the facts and myths so that you can make an informed choice when you say, “I do.”
Instructor: Chrstine Wilson
TALK
Wednesday, June 20
Enrollment Fee: $15
(Enrollment closes at 5 p.m. on 6/19)
Self-Improvement
Re-Invent Yourself
Create a New You for a Brighter Future
If you are in a career transition or seeking new opportunities, this workshop will show you how to network more effectively, how to make technology work for you, and how to master the secrets of career coaching and online job searching.
Instructor: Bob Dallmeyer
WORKSHOP
Tuesday, June 19, 7-9:30 p.m.
Enrollment Fee: $29
(Enrollment closes at 5 p.m. on 6/18)
Center Welcomes New Head of Health & Mental Health Services
By Stevie St. John
Following more than 10 years as leader of the Chicago Department of Public Health’s STI/HIV division, Chris Brown has joined the senior management team of the Center as the organization’s Director of Health and Mental Health Services. Brown succeeds Quentin O’Brien, who left the Center to become chief operating officer of the Ambulatory Care Network for the County of Los Angeles.
With more than 25 years of experience in the administration of public health programs, Brown will manage the Center’s growing health, medical and mental health services, leading a team of more than 125 doctors, nurses, therapists, administrators and others.
Brown began his public health career as a Communicable Disease Investigator with the STD program in Pima County, the south Arizona county that includes the city Tucson.
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