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Interview: Shana Blessing

By MARTHA PONTONI

Would you share with our readers the personal background that qualifies you to be Executive Director of the GEAR Foundation?

I came out at Oberlin College, an atmosphere that was very supportive, very political, and very activist-oriented. At Oberlin it's very difficult to be in the closet, or to remain unaware of political activity. So I became heavily involved in organizing. I taught classes in women's health care and lesbian life-style. Because I was a Women's Studies major, all my research focused on the feminist perspective and its relations with other disciplines. I also did personal research projects about the relation of sexual orientation to other disciplines. So once I figured out who I was, I used my education to develop intellectu-

ave also travelled a lot,

visiting different women's communities, many of them in the United Kingdom.

I feel I have a very broad range of experience in organizing different kinds of things, in pulling organizations together, and getting beople to work together.

That was your background for running large organiza-

Gay Peoples Chronicle

tion. Can you describe your duties there?

At the moment, GEAR is not that large an organization. The Foundation is doing a lot of important work in the community, but at this point the work is being done by a limited number of volunteers.

My position entails coordinating all the operations of the Foundation. This includes working with the Directors of the Lesbian/Gay Hotline and the AIDS Hotline (who are the same person). It includes overseeing all the programs we sponsor-such as the Open Rap on Friday nights, and the various speakers and programs at the Gay Community Center--and connecting with groups that want to meet at the Center.

It also includes reaching out to other groups in the community. For instance, I'm continuing my relationship with East Side lesbian/feminist activities, trying to inform the women active in these groups about what is happening at GEAR, and to inform the people at GEAR about what's happening on the East Side.

Right now, much of my work is writing grants to help the Foundation survive.

When were

you took office there à lot of rumors about

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EARLY FROST

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Starring:

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This presentation, which has received excellent advance reviews, provides an opportunity for you to gather persons in your home for a mini-workshop.

A member of the Taskforce will gladly lead a discussion and answer questions regarding AIDS prior to the movie. (Suggested time: 7:30 p.m.)

If you are interested in sponsoring such an event in your home and would like a Taskforce member present, please contact Randy Gearhart, 651-1HIT.

Proceeds from your fundraiser will help us in our educational and support efforts here in the Greater Cleveland community.

GEAR, that it was going to close and that it was ridled with infighting. The impression in the community was that nobody outside GEAR knew what was going on in the Foundation. Do you see this impression as accurate, and how are you going to change things?

I don't see this as true. I've been involved in the Cleveland community for two

Shana Blessing

years, primarily in activities at the Women's Building Project in the Civic on the East Side. The fact that I was totally unfamiliar with GEAR's existence says a lot about publicity that didn't get disseminated.

GEAR has had problems in the past, I understand, but I'm not really familiar with its history. I think that in deciding to conduct a really extensive search for an Executive Director the Foundation's Board of Directors showed a great deal of hope and promise for change.

At GEAR I'm working with much positive energy and enthusiasm that is very difficult to correlate with what people see as its negative image in the community. This image is something I've encountered only in rumors.

There was a rumor going around couple of months

ago that GEAR was going to close. Any truth in that?

Not at all, to my knowledge. I doubt that the Foundation would hire an Executive Director if they thought they were going under.

What can you say about the shape GEAR was in when you started?

I came into an organization full of relatively new volunteers who are very willing to put their energy into working for change in the community and being a cohesive force in it. Because GEAR operates the Hotline, we have the opportunity to collect all the information about what's happening in the lesbian/gay community and give it out to people who call in or come to the Center. We're a clearing house for many things that go on in the community.

What I sense at GEAR is a

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lot of positivism waiting to be directed. At this point we are undertaking larger programs. We're writing grants for more money to expand the Hotline, to be able to do more things in the community and make more services and programs available.

When I came in, the attitude of the Board was essentially: This responsibility is in your hands; you have so much freedom to do what you like with it; and we're all willing to work with you to produce good results because we have the basis here for something very powerful.

Could you be more specific about some of things you look forward to doing?

At this point, having just started, it's a bit difficult to talk about future plans in detail. Right now I'm learning how to write grants, and that's a major process.

We would like to be able to expand the services of the AIDS Hotline to include a statewide educational program. We operate this Hotline for the entire state, but so far we've only been able to reach out in the Cleveland area due to lack of funds and energy.

I think it would be marvellous if we could be a central clearing house for everything that's going on; where people could call to find out what's happening and where it's happening. I'd like to see more groups use the Center space. The gay community in Cleveland is incredibly diverse and not very cohesive. It would be wonderful to be able to become more cohesive and yet not lose any of this diversity.

How are the GEAR finances? Any problems with its financial position?

I

know there have been a lot of financial problems in the past. There haven't been

since I began. At the moment we're operating at the base level.

Nonprofit organizations have a lot of problems obtaining funding, and GEAR has never had a central person who consistently handled fundraising. Much of the fundraising has been pursued rather haphazardly, because everyone involved in GEAR is also involved in 12 other things, besides having a full time job. This makes it very difficult for an organization doing so many things pursue funding success-

fully.

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As GEAR stands now, do you any major problems with its organization or how it works?

Personally, I've had to become used to working with a Board. Coming from a strongly lesbian/feminist background, everythingI'd done previously had involved a consensus process. GEAR definitely doesn't run that way, and this has been a major adaptation for me. But I haven't had real problems with the organization, and we've seen a significant increase in people who are