Holly Gilvary
RACINE — Following what former staff members called an "unexpected" closing of the LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin on May 16, several have formed The People's Center to reestablish services for local LGBTQ+ community members.
In a news release issued Wednesday, Kyle Johnson said The People's Center's most urgent goal is to continue critical programming for the local LGBTQ+ community, starting with youth programming.
The center is working with community partners to secure new spaces and will be publishing a calendar with times, dates and locations for reestablished groups, the release said.
Founding members include Johnson, Patricia Castillo Venegas, Jasmine Alvarez, Haven Slater, Zak Butler, Becky Crowley, Shay King and Elliott Hurd.
Once critical services are reestablished for the area's highest-risk populations, Johnson said, The People's Center will launch "new and re-imagined services" centered on community feedback.
Reconnecting with community members left behind by the LGBT Center's closure is also a high priority, according to the release.
"The LGBT Center was never a building or an institution," Alvarez said. "The Center was the people, and we're not going anywhere."
Johnson said The People's Center is a response to a common refrain that the LGBT Center "did not adequately serve the needs of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) community members." Internal changes made by the LGBT Center to address the needs of BIPOC community members were slow, "where effective at all."
King said they don't want to "simply revive the broken system that existed before."
"Instead, we started envisioning a new organization that would prioritize the needs of those who have been left behind," King said.
Johnson said The People's Center will "serve as a resource and support hub for Queer communities in Racine and Kenosha, with a focus especially on BIPOC, disabled, and otherwise marginalized community members."
The People's Center is working to establish a social media presence and a newsletter, along with an offline presence. It can be found on Instagram and Facebook at @thepeoplescenter and at www.thepeoplescenter.us.
Johnson said the center plans to eventually hold a Pride Prom and gradually build services using "grassroots and non-hierarchical methods of organizing."
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