Affirmations is a

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

community center A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

serving the

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

(

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

) population of

Ferndale, Michigan Ferndale is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit on the Woodward Corridor, Ferndale borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a ...

, and nearby communities.

History

Affirmations was founded in 1989 as Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center to serve

people in

Southeast Michigan Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are c ...

. Affirmations was incorporated by Jeff Vitale and Laura Horowitz. The original by-laws were written by Jeff Vitale and Gary Roberts. Vitale and Roberts met when Roberts answered an ad Vitale placed in Metro Times for GLMPSE (Gays and Lesbians Mobilizing Politically, Socially and Economically) a short-lived organization also founded by Vitale. Vitale served as the founding president of Affirmations. He and Roberts assembled the first board of directors. Roberts served on the first board as vice president not president as reported by Between the Lines. Jan Stevenson became the second president when Vitale took a Market Research position in Chicago where he shortly thereafter founded Overlooked Opinions, the first market research and polling firm specializing in the lesbian and gay community in the United States. Jan Stevenson coined Affirmation's first motto "Gay is Good." Originally, Affirmations was housed in a building owned by the

Michigan Organization for Human Rights The Michigan Organization for Human Rights (MOHR, ) was a Michigan-based civil rights and anti-discrimination organization. It was founded in 1977 and disbanded in 1994, with most of its assets transferring to the University of Michigan Bentley H ...

(MOHR), and was funded through community donations as well as a small grant that was obtained by one of MOHR's volunteers for a community hotline prior to Affirmation's formation. When MOHR questioned the need for a center such as Affirmations, the organization was moved to its second home, a Detroit building owned by inaugural board members Sue Pittmann and Christine Puckett. Around 1990, the center moved to the Pioneer Building on West 9 Mile Road in Ferndale. During the organization's first two years, a group of volunteers operated a coming out group and a support and referral hotline for LGBT people. The center hired its first executive director, Jan Stevenson, an inaugural board member and later board president, in 1991, and expanded its programming to include hosting local LGBT groups and a program for local LGBT youth, funded by a gift from the estate of Carl Rippberger following his death. The center opened an art gallery in 1992 named after Pittmann and Puckett, who were murdered in May 1992 in an apparent

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

by a neighbor. Stevenson resigned in 1995 to become publisher of '' Between the Lines''. She was succeeded by Julie Enzer and Cindy Woodbury. Leslie Thompson became executive director in 2000, expanded programming to include health services and civic engagement, and oversaw the construction and opening of a new building to house the center. Thompson resigned in August 2010, following two years of financial difficulties for the center. In 2001, the center conducted a feasibility study on the possibility of constructing a new building to serve as its home. A

capital campaign Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

was launched in 2004 with a goal of , and successfully completed in 2006, raising , with support from Allan Gilmour,

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

, and

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

. On June 3, 2007, the center moved into its new facility on West 9 Mile Road in Ferndale. Antonio David Garcia became executive director in August 2011, and he expanded recreation and advocacy efforts. The center coordinated a cross-state bike trip to raise awareness of LGBT issues and organized a statewide network of LGBT community centers. Garcia resigned in October 2013 and departed in February 2014. At the end of 2013, the organization received an anonymous

bequest A devise is the act of giving real property by will, traditionally referring to real property. A bequest is the act of giving property by will, usually referring to personal property. Today, the two words are often used interchangeably due to thei ...

of . In March 2015, Darrious Hilmon became executive director. He resigned in October 2015 and was replaced in December 2015 by Susan Erspamer, who served until March 2018. Affirmations entered a period of restructuring after the departure of Susan Erspamer, leading to a new era for Affirmations. After being at the LA LGBT Center from his departure until 2019, Antonio David Garcia returned to the helm as executive director in May 2019.

Activities

Affirmations offers services and multi-use facility space to the

population in its surrounding communities. The center's services include counseling, support groups,

get out the vote "Get out the vote" or "getting out the vote" (GOTV) describes efforts aimed at increasing the voter turnout in elections. In countries that do not have or enforce compulsory voting, voter turnout can be low, sometimes even below a third of the e ...

efforts, and a youth program, known as the Carl Rippberger Youth Empowerment Program, which provides a drop-in center and peer education program. The organization is a member of CenterLink.

Facility

The center operates out of a facility on West 9 Mile Road in Ferndale. The facility was designed to be environmentally friendly and includes a cyber center, a two-story art gallery, an outdoor rooftop sky deck, and a library.

References

External links

*
Affirmations on GuideStar
{{LGBT in Michigan 1989 establishments in Michigan LGBTQ community centers in the United States LGBTQ in Michigan Non-profit organizations based in Michigan Organizations established in 1989

History

Activities

Facility

See also

References

External links