Four or five years ago, it was seemingly indestructible, the gay youth program that was, for more than a decade, hailed as a model for others in the US.
Outright, a drop-in center for GLBTQ youth in Portland and beyond was funded by thousands and thousands of dollars. An obvious mix of students and transient youth, the group was politically active, civically involved (members traveled from school to school around the state to discuss tolerance), and the darling of gay youth programming, hosting gay proms and days-long seminars for gay youth throughout the state. (See "Castrating Sex Ed," by Noah Bruce, May 17, 2001.)
Last month, though, and seemingly well-below the radar, Outright was gone, poof just like that.
“Like many nonprofit organizations, Outright has struggled for a number of years to be financially viable,” Community Counseling Center’s president and CEO Leslie Clark Brancato said — and it was Brancato and others at CCC who are attempting to revive Outright with the creation of PRYSM (Proud Rainbow Youth of Southern Maine).
With the help of former Outright members, PRYSM, under the tutelage of the United Way, was created in short order to prevent a disruption of “vital services to LGBTQ youth in the Greater Portland area.”
“Community Counseling Center knew what a great program Outright was and wanted to make sure its services to the LGBTQ youth weren’t lost,” Brancato says. She also says the group hopes to revive much of the programming that didn’t survive the lean years at Outright.
“We’ve retained the drop-ins [Tuesdays and Fridays from 6-9 pm at 43 Baxter Boulevard, Portland] and we’re developing a board to continue with youth leadership development,” says Brancato, referring to the fact that Outright had always been youth-led. “What will be different is that there won’t be so much pressure on management for fundraising. They can focus now on their mission and programming.”
In fact, the United Way had previously entertained the notion of taking over Outright completely prior to its dissolution on February 28. That didn’t happen, and now PRYSM and Community Counseling Center are soliciting opinion from the community on how to move forward. And, programming has already begun with a Gay Prom scheduled for Friday, April 14, at the Holiday Inn By the Bay.
Beginning in the basement of a local church, Outright served youth under the age of 22, and originally operated on a shoestring budget for several years before its guardian angel, Cathy Kidman, came on board in the mid ’90s. Known statewide for her expert fundraising skills and her rare directorial abilities, the award-winning Kidman eventually brought the organization’s budget up to the mid-six figures with grants from such prestigious organizations as the Ford and Gill foundations. Such money is not easy to come by, and it takes a slick grant proposal to procure one of the multi-year grants ... and to maintain it.
Outright hit its zenith in the late ’90s, but never seemed to gain traction after Kidman’s departure in 2000, and, with the ending of some major grants, Outright was forced to constantly re-evaluate its path. (See"Where Have All The Gays Gone?," January 30, 2003, and"Outright Gets Its Man," December 5, 2003, both by Tony Giampetruzzi.)
