Here is the official statement from the Wingspan Board of Directors on the future of Tucson’s LGBT community center

Wingspan has provided the Tucson and southeastern Arizona LGBTQ communities with an emotionally safe and discrimination free community center over the last 26 years. Wingspan has served thousands, providing advocacy, services and valuable programming to the community.

The Board of Directors recognizes and understands the responsibility it has to maintain the legacy of Wingspan and her programs. Given the current economic and financial situation that Wingspan is experiencing, the Board voted to begin collaborations with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation to discuss a transition that will allow for Wingspan’s programs and mission to continue. Discussions with other non-profits are also occurring.

Several advantages of this collaboration and merger include a continuation of services and programs for the Tucson and southeastern Arizona LGBTQ communities, offering the ability to exist within a stronger financial and administrative infrastructure. The Board anticipates using the Wingspan name and reputation to promote and leverage for stronger LGBTQ programming, for fundraising and for continued support of the LGBT community. The Board is very concerned about the welfare of current employees and volunteers and will work to protect their interests and well-being.

The Board is working towards making a decision and finalizing a strategic transition in the next few weeks, prior to the termination of our lease effective July 31st.

This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2014.

14 replies on “A Message From the Wingspan Board of Directors”

  1. This is a good thing. Synergistic partnerships are better than similar purposed agencies competing for diminishing social service dollars.

  2. You know, I wrote something that I realized was only going to have people senselessly bickering. So I’ll keep it simple – I don’t think this is a good thing and I’m disappointed. End scene.

  3. I had heard months ago from former Wingspan employees who had been purged by the Executive Ditrector and he board that the lack of responsiveness to clients, particularly youth, has run the organization into the ground. I see now that they are correct in this assessment.

  6. Hey to all that cares help out start sending donations share with friends…push this help out …..this is good org…they are helping kids

  7. Wingspan originally started and was set up as an All Volunteer Organization until the 1990’s when it began hiring full time employees. It has always had its cycles of booms & bankruptcy. Many communities have successfully merged Their HIV/AIDS efforts, LGBT Pride Festival-Parade, and LGBT Community Centers ALL TOGETHER as One Organization in order for each of those LGBT efforts to be financially stable and sustainable.

  8. I was on the Wingspan Board and served as the Director for 14 months. I can tell you absolutely that the Board is doing the right thing. SAAF has the resources to ensure Wingspan’s important programs are run properly. And as for the posting by Steve in which he said the ED’s purging of staff has run the organization into the ground…I can attest that some of those same employees were bad for Wingspan. There is much, much more to this story.

  9. I am seeing posts online questioning whether SAAF is willing to associate itself with groups that are primarily LGBT because they have worked to make AIDS services approachable to the rest of the communities by showing that SAAF & AIDS are NOT just Gay issues… How this is handled (or not handled) will determine the health, safety and education of many community members that rely on the Wingspan services… Very hard to absorb and make things “just keep working”. The volunteer aspect needs to be seriously organized to make it work. Space to exist is another issue altogether. Fundraising really has been invisible for a long time. I hope something good emerges from this change. I understand why it is happening but am sad to see it go.

  10. Maybe they can get BOTOP to throw money in. They were rumored to have gotten $$$ from some bareback porn studio to be a sponsor for the Fiesta. What’s a few flyers and the occasional raw sex trailer on the new Wingspan website, anyway?

  11. Wow. I don’t even want to know where that came from ^^^

    I’m sad that Wingspan’s had this happen, but hopefully what comes out of it is an organization that fully supports the city again. Seems like since I’ve been here (10 years next month), it’s been whittled away to nothing. Here’s to renewal.

  12. I just hope to god the drop in center is still by the Rondstadt. Do you know how much of a difference it is, how fuckin hot and far of a walk it is to SAAF during the summer when you don’t have a bus pass? Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal to ppl who have cars and buss passes, but for Eon youth, its a fuckin difference. And youth attedence will drop so much. Not that many youth go to MShape at SAAF for exactly that reason.

  13. Wingspan outlived its usefulness. The programs and events were long gone. The AVP was minimally effective.
    What about the director that quit after one month and the money WS spent recruiting him? Big WASTE of money.
    I have run into some pretty nasty “volunteers” at WS and felt it was a “private club” for the elect.
    What services did they REALLY supply? WS deteriorated into a hangout to get out of the heat or rain.
    WS needed to go!

  14. ^I wouldn’t call 200 callers a month to the AVP crisis line and more than 30 walkins a week “minimally effective”. it def makes a difference to those in need. The AVP collaborates with several local, federal and state-wide agencies including the NCAVP and provides hundreds of hours of education and training to schools, colleges, law enforcement and community resources regarding the LGBTQ community and the discrimination and bias the majority of us face. Wingspan gives LGBTQ people a VOICE that otherwise might not be there. EON sees 75-100 youth on a monthly basis and 40% of them are homeless and regularly use the Homeless Youth Project resources such as food, clothing and bus passes. I highly doubt that the youth and the community that does utilize the services feel that WS needs to GO.

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