I’ve now had a little over a month to (for the most part) relax and pull myself together after a – lets face it – traumatic event. This is the first time I’ve somewhat unplugged from the needs of the community in years and I feel that it is just about time to jump back into the fire. When the City grant comes in, planning will start and my world will become a nonstop blur for the next year and I’m not looking forward to that chaos at all. I am, however, looking forward to getting things done.

Within the next few weeks, we will know what our budget is and  then begin making plans for the new TG HIV program – entirely conceived of and run by the TG community… That will be a first in the for Texas. We will need the community to come together and figure out where the new TG Center will be at (move, set up the archives, meeting rooms, etc). We will need to start planning for the future ASAP… and it all will need to begin all of this as early as next month.

I was talking with one of our grant partners recently and he asked me if I would have any help. I smiled because I immediately thought of a number of people that I can count on to help me pull this together. I reflected on how grateful I am for our Board and CAB. I know that this incarnation of the TG Center will be a true community effort and I’m really excited about it!

This week Carolyn and I met with someone who was homeless after being incarcerated. So many of the folks I’ve worked with seem to get slammed by the system when others – say white heteronormative males – might get probation. She and I spent the afternoon talking about the need for an intensive jails program. I basically have a grant proposal already made up and I think this is something that we need to pursue.