Gay center faces funding woes

A bleak funding situation is threatening to shut down the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah and the social and outreach programs it provides, the new executive director said.

"We are committed to not closing our doors," said Valarie Larabee, who took the helm of the GLBT Center, 361 N. 300 West, two weeks ago. Since learning of the financial situation this week, Larabee said she's launched an aggressive fund-raising drive to keep the center viable.

"We have $10,500 in the bank, and our monthly expenses average about $20,000," she said. "Somewhere in mid-January we start going into the red."

Larabee's goal is to raise $160,000 by Dec. 31. That, she said, would fund the GLBT Center through June, providing enough of a cushion to plan ahead, though the center could remain operational on less.

"If we got $20,000, it's one additional month of operating," Larabee said. "It would be prudent at that point to start cutting programs."

Board chairwoman Maryann Martindale said the center has been operating "bare-bones" and month-to-month for some time. She said it hasn't been able to recoup the loss of as much as 25 percent of its budget when a tobacco prevention grant wasn't renewed. That grant would have provided $100,000 per year for two more years.

The GLBT Center also lost its executive director of 4 1/2 years in April when Paula Wolfe stepped down. Larabee started as executive director this month after Chad Beyer, who took the position in August, resigned.

Larabee said the first service to be cut would likely be the coffee shop. The GLBT Center, established in 1991, also provides a meeting place, youth activity center and library. It sponsors the annual Utah Pride celebration.

Martindale said the center's most needed services are its youth programs.

"A lot of these kids sort of flounder when they come out with this identity. We give them a place where there's some hope," she said. "There's a high risk of suicide in gay youth, we really feel we play an important role in helping to stem that."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com