Community Voice for Institutional Change

June ends. The flags come down. The floats get parked. And queer institutions keep going — because the community doesn't stop needing them on July 1st.

On Thursday, June 25th, I joined Richard Heyl de Ortiz — Executive Director of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center — on Radio Kingston's Middays with Julia Furlan to talk about what it actually looks like when a queer institution decides to listen to its community. Not perform listening. Actually do it.

The Center is in the middle of a strategic planning process right now. I'm running it. We launched a community survey — because a strategic plan that doesn't start with community input is just an org chart with ambitions. The survey is still open. If you're in the Hudson Valley, go fill it out.

In the interview, we got into:

• What it actually looks like to build a strategic plan from community voice, not on top of it

• How institutions have to reflect and respond to their communities — especially when the political climate is doing what it's doing

• The harder stuff: healing from institutional harm, building trust, creating something that lasts

This is the work I do. Not change management. Not a workshop you forget by Thursday. Transformation — for institutions that are ready to actually listen, reckon, and build differently.

Give it a listen. 👇