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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2001)
saplambar 21.2001 • Id <;ivi inew s Cancún, C ommunity C atalyst - Exclusive Club Med Village Vancouver roundtable endeavors to connect southwest W ashington's sexual minorities J V o i? . 3 - 1 0 by Timothy Krause , from (xi can’t build a community with Whatever shape the network takes, Furze out people knowing who’s in the says the goal will be expediency. “It’s about how community,” says John Furze, a to not wait two or three months to find out member of the Vanccxiver-based about something,” he explains. “Sometimes by Sexual Minority Leadership the time you read about it, it’s over. So this is Roundtable. So, after nearly a year of identifying basically about how to get important informa southwest Washington resources for sexual tion out fast.” minorities, this informal group of community Once the communication infrastructure is in leaders has launched Rainbow Links, a new tele place, the roundtable will begin a dialogue with phone hot line to parallel a revamped Web site. the community to assess other needs. Seniors Funded by contributions, the hot line offers and trans people are two of the underserved an automated menu system featuring listings in populations whose concerns might be addressed. “Where we go from here is going to contin seven categories. Among the topics are religious and spiritual resources; social and support ue to be influenced by what we hear from the groups; health and HIV services; and family and community and the interest and expertise of the youth infonnation. This directory identifies people who volunteer to be on the roundtable,” agencies, organizations and businesses not only says Kip Beardsley, gay health promoter at the in Vancouver but also as far away as Cowlitz, Southwest Washington Health District in Van Lewis, Pacific and Klickitat counties. And the couver and one of the roundtable’s founding roundtable plans to facilitate long-distance members. In the meantime, what’s good for the com access by adding a toll-free number soon. Concurrently, the Web site is being updated munity at large has been good for individual to include all of the same information. In addi- members of the roundtable, too. For example, --- --------- 1" "T....... ’---- u I A it Week - & Q Q Q kJ v * 1" 'I'uui '»iii /1 Includes accommodations, 3 meals daily, wine & beer with lunch/dinner, gratuities, most sports, theme parties. Subject to availability. LLOYD TRAVEL 1026 NE Multnomah 503 2 8 8 -5 14 5 - D /sercet- Mon. - Fri. 8:30 am - 5:30 pm Sat. 10 am - 3 pm ---------- Per-eo/raC - — /*«ovnùtHï PioCoprapfy ---- 503.892.2677 When an ordinary Realtor simply won't do... www.dimbatree.com I M . I ............... 3144 SE Belmont Portland, OR 97214 office: 503-238-7617 m ém m ,S* Members of the Sexual Minority Leadership Roundtable meet Sept. 13 to brainstorm ideas to build a stronger, more connected community tion, the online service provides an events cal endar and interactive message board. “There’s been a lack of understanding of what is here,” notes Furze, a counselor at the Children’s Home Society of Washington. “A lot of people tend to go to Portland for what should be a Vancouver community. But we want them to be accessing services here and seeing here as home.” Another member of the roundtable is Llyn Zephyr, coordinator of Vancouver’s Sexual Minority Services Project. When distributing information at events, she has found many are surprised to learn what is available north of the Columbia River. At a booth during Portland’s Gay Pride, for example, she says, “People from Vancou ver visited us and said: ‘We didn’t know there was a celebration. We didn’t know there were services.’ ” Roundtable members began meeting last autumn after a handful of providers sought to ptxd individual rescxirces. Their original goal was to provide comprehensive services without duplication, Hit they soon saw the resulting directory as a valuable way of communicating to the public what local resources were available. The roundtable now hopes to build on this foundation by developing a way for members of the southwest Washington sexual minorities community to communicate with each other quickly and easily. One method might be an e-mail list, but Zephyr notes that because many people are not connected to the Internet yet, other more traditional avenues will be explored as well. Zephyr has been able to identify where gaps exist in services for the sexual minorities com munity and has brainstormed ways to meet these needs through the cooperation and collab oration of the roundtable’s diverse participants. Among the wide representation of stake holders is the city of Vancouver. Openly gay City Councilor Jim Moeller has attended meetings of the roundtable, and Zephyr says his participation has helped focus a lot of the ideas. “1 am very excited aHxit the existence of the new roundtable and its potential for future impact on our community in total,” he says. “I think it’s going to be important for any kind of community in the future that these kinds of roundtables and communication continue and be developed as much as possible.” Other organizations active on the round table include Columbia River Mental Health; Cowlitz County Health District HIV Support Group; First Congregational Church of Christ; Imperial Sovereign Court of the Raintree Empire; Parents, Families and Friends of Les bians and Gays; Peace Health Behavior Health/Choices; Soulforce; United Church of Christ; and YWCA Safechoice Domestic Vio lence Program. |H The S exual M inority L e a d e r s h i p R o u n d table welcomes others to participate, especially gay business owners from outlying areas of southwest Washington. 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