Pride Retreat Postponed
Meeting to discuss Whitman-Walker's involvement in DC's Capital Pride receives lack of reponse
Whitman-Walker Clinic has postponed its all-day Capital Pride Planning Committee “retreat,” originally slated for Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, and open to the public, due to a lack of responses to attend, according to a clinic spokesperson.
The meeting was originally scheduled to discuss the clinic’s involvement with Capital Pride.
“What we’re really looking at is that even though we were the organization that contributed the most financially to Pride, we also are the organization that produces the event,” says ReGina Newkirk, director of development and community relations at the clinic. “And that takes away from our ability to serve more clients.”
Newkirk says the clinic is “really in an exploratory stage right now” and is “looking to transition out of the role of being the producing agent and the organization that contributes the overwhelmingly largest percentage to Pride.”
That includes the possibility of Capital Pride becoming its own “501(c)(3),” the tax code for charitable not-for-profit organizations; or of another local not-for-profit organization becoming Pride’s main producer.
The retreat, as of Metro Weekly deadline, was tentatively re-scheduled for sometime in mid-November.
According to Newkirk, last year’s Capital Pride event cost approximately $145,000, 75 percent of which was paid for by Whitman-Walker Clinic. Last year, for the first time in Capital Pride history, 12 local non-profit organizations joined the clinic in producing the event. —
For more information visit www.wwc.org.
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