APRIL 8, 1994 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
7
Making different cultures feel welcome
Joseph Interrante leaves for Nashville this month, after being executive director of the Health Issues Taskforce for the past five years, and a volunteer in AIDS work since the start of the epidemic. In the March 25 issue, Interrante discussed the reasons for his move and his early AIDS experience. In the concluding part of the interview with the Chronicle, he talks about HIT's structure and recognition of cultural diversity.
Chronicle: You were saying now's a good time to leave HIT, a breaking point. Joseph Interrante: There are a whole variety of things. [The transition] is a very proactive and positive and supportive and orderly process that we've already developed. We're looking for a location to move the offices. We've been talking to other organizations, so that we'll be in a new place. The Citizens' Committee [on AIDS] plan, that certainly we've been a part of, is going to be in place. Hopefully there's going to be a new coalition of organizations and leadership to help ensure that the plan is adopted and that Cleveland moves forward. So, in many ways, it's an opportune moment...
Is HIT where you want it to be now? I would have liked-but I think it's a matter of resources-to have already had in place the funding development department, but that's gonna happen in '94, so I've reached the point where it's been developed.
There are lots of other things in the strategic plan-some of which are behind schedule-that it would have been nice to have implemented. But I also think that in AIDS work you can't predict more than three years in the future, so that even if these things were all in place, they will probably go through changes
in the next few years.
Do you see, as the next step, paying much more attention to fundraising and direct solicitation?
I think for the long-term health of the organization it has to. And I know that is a very difficult thing for community-based organizations to justify. But the reality of life in this organization-and others
can community, so that we're in the process of building and developing the linkages within the community to draw upon the rich resources of volunteerism there. That also means, can things be done better by building upon the tradition that exists in terms of
Joseph Interrante
volunteerism and volunteer service, rather than trying to twist people into the mold we already have? That means a real multifaceted program.
Has racism ever been an accusation leveled at HIT?
Sure, and I would go beyond specifically the issue of racism to the much broader issue of cultural diversity, [which] was a major focus of our strategic planning process. It's a major goal within the strategic plan itself. . . In order to be culturally plu-
Cultural diversity
means more-much more than simply bringing different
folks to sit around
ralist you need to confront in an ongoing way racism, and sexism, and homophobia, and ageism.
We've had our issues and our problems and our mistakes, there's no question about that, I think it's a normal part of the process... and given what the Taskforce wanted to be, we needed to be an organization that was diverse in that it recognized and respected the different traditions from different peoples' backgrounds, and that cultural diversity means more—much more than simply bringing different folks to sit around the same table.
the same table.
around the country-is that grants are fairly stable, public and private funding, and even with a hoped-for increase or beginnings of governmental support from local and county levels, you're not talking about a massive increase.
If you're going to be able to develop programs whose continuation can be guaranteed, which is what you gotta do when you try to provide support to people who are living longer with HIV disease, then you've got to look to the general community in terms of your support.
About 65 percent of our revenue came from grants in 1990-91, to about 45 percent this past year, with general revenue growing from about 45 to 55 percent, which is what had to happen. When you're at that level, raising general support, you need designated staff to handle that. The organization is at a place where I and my successor can't be an executive director and director of finance and director of funding development. The organization is too big for that.
How is recruitment of volunteers from different communities going?
It's a slow process. [HIT is] working on developing a real recruitment plan that continues to draw on sources of volunteerism that we've had in the past, and to diversify. We've made some progress, but there's more work to be done on that. But that's because different communities are facing different issues.
Within the gay community you're dealing with a certain amount of collective burnout for quite understandable reasons. The issue is newer with the African-Ameri-
It means you have to re-look at your traditions, your structures, and your procedures to ensure not only that they're nondiscriminatory but that they respect, incorporate, and make people feel that they're part of the organization. Everything from looking at your holiday party, and making sure that it's inclusive, all the way through to doing in-services on cultural diversity issues, including racism, sexism and homophobia, for board, staff and volunteers.
AIDS organizations are really different in that, as community organizations, they're very committed to building a type of organizational environment which welcomes and builds upon the strengths of people from real different walks of life. What that means is not only are they willing to do work around and confront racism and sexism, but we also need to make sure that we don't take homophobia for granted...
In HIT, when it was based very firmly in the gay community, you could sort of assume that people understood what it meant to provide services to gay men, that people had an understanding of homophobia and how that could manifest itself as well. But when you're dealing with an organization that is culturally pluralist, you no longer can take that for granted. That's part of institutionalizing the gay community as a constituency among many communities, so that it also becomes part of this "triptych of isms" that one needs to sensitize people to in
all aspects of the organization's operation and training.
How have things changed over the years between Cleveland's AIDS service organizations?
At the level of programs, [there's been] a tremendous level of cooperation and interlocking of programs. What also has begun to happen, though not to the degree that one would hope, is cooperation and a sort of partnership at the highest decision making level. I might say that one of the things that I am pleased about, is under my leadership at the Taskforce we've done a lot of work bringing other organizations to the table. I think the AIDS Walk is a good example: "Let us do this together in a way that benefits the community as a whole."
In our search for new offices we've talked to a number of other organizations about sharing central office space to help cut costs for all of us. It enhances communication and it makes it better for people with HIV, because it becomes more of one-stop shopping. Without anybody losing their autonomy we can cooperate in these ways. Any closing thoughts?
It's the board, the staff, and the volunteers that convince me that people will get through this change in an orderly and productive way and that the Taskforce as an organization is not dependent upon any one individual.
Quite honestly, back in 1983, when we were sitting around the living room, starting AIDS work and creating the Taskforce, nobody had any idea or any expectation that ten years later we'd still be doing this.
I think the reality of AIDS has changed as well, because you can no longer think about AIDS as a crisis type of situation. I think from the point of view of medical research you need to do that, because you need that pressure, to find a cure and a vaccine, and effective treatments. But from the perspective of programs and services, you need to be thinking about this as a long-term social and human service issue and one that is deeply connected to other social issues. This issue is inseparable from the issues of homelessness, of hunger, of mental health, and of drug treatment...
My great hope is that people will continue to build upon the achievements of the last ten years, of the progress that I've been a part of, and move forward.
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