Community Compass
Community Compass is a service of OITM. GLBT organizations from around the state are invited to provide brief — 200 words or less — descriptions of recent or upcoming activities and events. Send your submissions to us by email by the 15th of the month.
VT
Unity Project Deadline Extended
According to an informal email notice
from Mary Conlon, the Program Director of the Vermont Community Foundation,
a partner in the Vermont Unity Project with Samara Foundation, the deadline
for the Program and Strategic Partnership grant rounds has been delayed.
The new deadline will be June 1, 2005 for the Letter of Interest. The
updated deadlines and additional information about priority areas are
posted on the VCF website: www.vermontcf.org
Freedom to Marry's New Faces
At its March 5th meeting, the Board
of Directors of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force welcomed five
new directors. Joining Sherry Corbin, Laura Davidson, Beth Diamond, Judy
Murphy, Nora Skolnick and Board Chair Beth Robinson are Bennett Law of
Bethel, Joe Nusbaum of Charlotte, Lisa Rae of Springfield, Jaye Roseborough
of Cornwall, and Bernie Schlager of Middlebury.
The Task Force is currently supplementing
its work promoting same-sex marriage in Vermont with active support of
the Gender Identity Bill before the state legislature.
In addition, in February the Task
Force filed a "friend of the court" brief in the Washington
Supreme Court. Like the briefs the Task Force submitted in Oregon and
Massachusetts marriage cases, the brief argues that civil unions are not
fully equal, and don't meet the constitutional requirement of non-discrimination.
Only full marriage equality does.
Windham County Organizes
The Unity Foundation has generously
provided a grant to create a Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Conference
on GLBT community activism and organizing in Windham County. The conference
will be held in the Brattleboro area on Saturday, May 14th, will last
all day, and is free to participants. The goal of the conference is to
inspire and energize current and would-be community leaders and doers
to create ways to strengthen and support the GLBT community in Windham
County and beyond. There will be a fabulous lunch, too!
From the conference, we will be recruiting
three people to go to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating
Change Conference, to be held in Oakland, CA in November. The grant covers
the travel, hotel, food, and conference fees of the people selected to
attend the conference.
We are excited to have Jeff
Bercuvitz facilitate the day-long conference. Jeff is one of North America's
leading experts on the relationship between personal, organizational and
community regeneration and a coach to community-builders and leaders around
the world. Over the past fifteen years, Jeff has trained and coached thousands
of activists, community builders and leaders, helping them discover creative,
inexpensive and enjoyable ways to make their efforts more successful,
as well as more personally rewarding and sustainable.
If you want to be a part of this fun,
energetic, and effective day, e-mail VTGLBTConferece@yahoo.com
or call Craig at 802-579-5056. Thanks!
Survivors
Take Back the Night!
In recognition and support of survivors
of sexual violence, the Women’s Rape Crisis Center, SafeSpace, and
the UVM Women's Center invite the community to join us for Sexual Violence
Awareness Month (SVAM). All people, regardless of sexual orientation,
gender identity, race, religion, ability, income, nationality or age,
are affected by sexual violence. The trans community is particularly targeted
for hate crimes including rape and sexual assault, and statistics show
that one in four women and one in six men will be assaulted in their lifetime.
The SVAM Planning Committee is looking
for survivors of sexual violence to share their stories at our annual
Take Back the Night March and Speak Out. The events will take place on
Wednesday, April 6th, starting at 5:30PM from the UVM Green by the fountain.
We will march from the UVM Green to Contois Auditorium (Burlington City
Hall) for the speak out.
If you have a story to share, but don't
want to identify yourself or speak publicly, you may send us your story
and we will read it anonymously at the Speak Out in Contois Auditorium.
We will not read any identifying information. This means that we won't
read your name or anyone else's.
If you have a story to share, and
want to tell it yourself, we welcome you to come to Take Back the Night
and SPEAK OUT.
The march and speak out enable the
community to come together to call for an end to sexual violence in all
its forms, including sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, sexual assault
and rape, and testify to the strength of survivors.
We will accept stories until Monday April
4th. If you wish to send your story via email, please send it to advocate@uvm.edu
or call the UVM Victim's Advocate at 656-7892 for more information. All
submissions will be kept anonymous.
Or mail stories to: Advocate, UVM Women's
Center, 34 S. Williams St, Burlington, VT 05401
The SVAM Planning Committee will be
holding a variety of events throughout April in order to raise awareness
and allow survivors to raise their voice against violence. Please check
out the calendar for more information or call 802-863-0003, 802-864-0555,
or 802-656-7892 for details.
Sprint Into Spring With SafeSpace!
It is with great excitement that SafeSpace
unleashes this year's newest event during Sexual Violence Awareness Month
(SVAM). On April 23rd join SafeSpace staff, volunteers, and supporters
at the "Run Against Rape." Bring your family, friends, colleagues,
workout buddies, and pets for a fun 5K run/walk through springtime in
Burlington from Leddy Park to Oakledge Park. Participants collect pledges
for their run to ensure that SafeSpace can continue to support lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning survivors of domestic
violence, sexual violence, and hate crimes! All proceeds go towards SafeSpace's
services and programs to end physical, sexual, emotional violence in the
lives of LGBTQQ Vermonters. An award ceremony, with prizes offered for
the participants who raise the most in pledges, will follow the run, along
with the presentation of the 50/50 Raffle winner. Other community organizations
will be present with information and opportunities to get to know the
resources out there!
Registration begins at 9am at Leddy
Park, with the R.A.R. commencing at 11am. All participants must commit
to raise a minimum of $15. Snazzy R.A.R. t-shirts are also available for
$10. For more information, contact Connie Beal at 863-0003 or email connie@safespacevt.org