For more than 15 years, Calgary’s Gay & Lesbian Community Services Association (GLCSA) has been a multi-purpose organization catering to Calgary’s GLBT community. It offers a broad range of services including Peer Support, Crisis & 24 hour information phone services, a drop in center, library and resource materials and much more. Recently Danielle Ladouceur, President of the Board of GLCSA, spoke to GayCalgary.com about the organization and its role in Calgary’s growing community.

The activities of the GLCSA are governed by the board, which is made up of volunteers that bring their expertise to keep the lights on and the programs rolling. I am sitting as the current President.

The GLCSA started as a grassroots response to community need. Originally, it was a telephone peer support service, and the drop in and group support services developed from there. It became more formal and took on the name Gay & Lesbian Community Service Association and became incorporated. We diversified our funding and got involved in more projects and activities.

The funding changes from year to year depending on what we are doing. Sometimes we attract funding for particular projects, for example we have a donation from Calgary Police Services for a youth website. We also raise funds every year by doing a volunteer-run Casino. We’ve also received donations from the Wild Rose Foundation, private donations, and The Calgary Foundation. We are trying to get some core funding established to support the "boring" things at the core of our services like administrative costs, the electricity bill, and everything else we need to keep operating. It is easier to attract funding for a new project than older projects or basics. Some of the money we receive through membership fees and directed donations through the United Way help cover those costs. We also do our own fundraising activities. We recently had the impressions art show for example, which was quite successful, and we hope to continue to do that.

We offer most of our programs as a partnership with the groups themselves. We are involved with She-Q, a woman’s group; Inside Out, which is the youth group; as well as men’s groups such as Choices and Between Men. We also provide space for groups that we didn’t organize, but that we help make possible. We offer a great deal of peer support programs with drop in and phone support as well.

From its inception, it has been a place where people can come together to celebrate who they are, find acceptance, and have strength in numbers. Together we can address the needs and issues within the community for all people who are leading non-heterosexual lives. We can support efforts to change and educate the society we live in, so that we can live our lives.

The community has certainly grown. There are a wider variety of groups now, social groups, support groups, sports groups, the pride committee and such. A lot more services are available. One of the things that the GLCSA has always tried to do is connect people to these groups. We don’t want to be the one that offers everything, but we want to make it easier to connect with what is happening. We do that for the clubs, bars and business as well with the Unity Pages (a service directory of GLBT or GLBT-friendly businesses, organizations, and services within Calgary.) We try to support all of the gay operated and gay friendly businesses.

One of the more interesting things we are looking at right now is acting as a receiving point for reports about gay bashing, discrimination or family violence. We want to provide people in the community a place where they can feel safe about talking about what is happening to them. We would then pass that information, either anonymously or otherwise, to services like the Calgary Police. There are people who may feel uncomfortable calling the police with that information but would hopefully feel more at ease in calling the GLCSA. They can either get personal response and support, or we can track the rate of these issues that are coming up and have sufficient supports to address them.

We want to diversify our funding base. We want to provide more opportunity for volunteers to become involved and have a higher profile – particularly people from the smaller diverse groups such as Bisexuals, Trans, and coming out youth who we hope will feel welcome to call and know they can find information and support relative to their particular needs.

We are building on our partnerships within the community. We have a good relationship with AIDS Calgary, and are trying to build strong relationships with the Calgary Police Service. We would like to work with the CBE on education and outreach programs. We have had a great deal of success with Parents and other gay friendly groups, and we would like to pursue that and increase their participation.

Our membership and volunteer forms are available on the website. We went through a period of transition where it was difficult for volunteers to join. Now we are well organized to provide information and accept volunteers. I would like to extend an invitation for people to get involved with the GLCSA and with the board in particular. It’s a place where you can make a significant contribution to the development of the GLCSA and the relevance of it to the community. As with all organizations, it isn’t easy to recruit to the board, and having a strong board makes for a strong organization.

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Calgary Outlink | Gay & Lesbian Community Services Association | Community |