The Center on Halsted hosted a town hall meeting on Oct. 15 as part of an ongoing community survey. The Center is holding these meetings in various areas of the city to develop a three-year strategic plan. In order to develop programming that will benefit the specific needs of the different segments of the LGBT community, the Center’s staff is asking the public for feedback in the form of a survey. The 28-question survey is available online and in paper form, and is anonymous.
Four months after its initial grand opening the Center seeks to more appropriately define its mission.
The meeting, attended by only nine individuals, was an opportunity for current tenants and members in the community to express concern and share ideas on immediate improvements. “There’s always people walking around, they want to come in here, so they walk around but no one knows quite what to do. They take their own tour and they open all the doors, regardless of whether or not a tech rehearsal is going on. There needs to be something that’s like a drop in engagement that allows you to immediately connect,” said Jim Bennett.
Some of the stronger opinions came from those who walked in near the end of the hour-long discussion. “I actually walked by someone who was in the Whole Foods area and they [said], Oh, these effen kids, something about these kids and HIV”, said Ava Dorenzo. “We need to educate the general public and people in this community about what the Center does.”
Because of the low number of attendees, the organizers could not arrange subgroups to respond to specific questions that could potentially benefit an array of constituents.
The next town hall meeting will be Oct. 25 at Bethel New Life Cultural and Community Center, 1140 N. Lamon.
See http://www.centeronhalsted.org.