Center Expansion a Welcome Addition to LA Neighborhood

History shows that when gay people move into the neighborhood it ensures one thing: “marvelous makeover.”

With the announcement this week that the LA LGBT Center (formerly known as the LA Gay & Lesbian Center) will add 100 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors and young adults, area residents can rest assured the competition for block beautification is going to get tough.

The $25-million campaign will also more than double the number of beds for homeless LGBT youth, create a new senior center and form a unique campus with the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, the Center’s arts, educational and cultural facility, which is directly across the street.

The Center’s new headquarters will facilitate “a major expansion of health and medical services at our current headquarters,” says CEO Lorri Jean.

“Demand for the Center’s services has grown enormously over the last several years. Today we welcome more than 42,000 client visits each month! This increased demand has strained our facilities and programs beyond capacity. Our beds for homeless youth are always full and demand for the services of our Youth Center on Highland are at an all-time high. The number of clients in our Senior Services department has tripled in the past three years.”

“I’m enormously grateful to the many donors who have already invested in this exciting new effort,” said Jean. “We have already raised a record $18.5 million in pledges; this includes the largest gift ever given by a living person to an LGBT organization. Philanthropist Anita May Rosenstein has pledged $6.5 million, which will be made by the Anita May Rosenstein, Wilbur May and Anita & Arnold Rosenstein Family Foundations.”

Six other major gifts include a $2 million pledge by Ariadne Getty and the Fuserna Foundation, and $1 million pledges by David J. Bailey and Ron B. Shalowitz; Jacinto Hernandez & Charles Callahan; Barry McCabe; Loren S. Ostrow & Brian Newkirk, and William & Cindy Shopoff.

“We’ve still got millions more to raise and lots of work ahead,” Jean adds, “but with the continued support of the community, I know we’ll be as successful with this campaign as we were with the last two capital campaigns that created the McDonald/Wright building and The Village at Ed Gould Plaza.”