The Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association is in the midst of formulating a new strategic plan, scheduled to be finished by the end of the year, that will likely lead to significant changes within the organization. The group is considering adding an executive director and restructuring its committees.
OPALGA was founded in 1989. In the early 1990s, a youth service program was created, and in the mid-1990s, the organization led an effort to an Oak Park domestic partnership ordinance and several years later to establish a village domestic partnership registry, the first in the United States to be affirmed by voters in a referendum. Last year, OPALGA worked with the village to pass a resolution in support of civil unions.
The organization’s annual budget recently surpassed $150,000, and now requires an annual audit. This growth led to discussions about a strategic plan.
At this point, discussions have focused on three steps: hiring an executive director, restructuring the group’s programming committee, and redoubling efforts to diversify and increase funding.
Mike Cochran, OPALGA’s treasurer and future co-chair, said the group’s budgetary growth has created a need for an executive director.
“It’s hard to run an organization that does all the things OPALGA does without a director,” he said. “The board would be more accountable to each other and the executive director.” The new administrator, he said, would help manage volunteers and raise money.
According to Cochran, the board has also talked about hiring a volunteer coordinator and a part-time grant writer. At the moment, OPALGA has three employees: a youth services director, an office manager, and a program director.
The group has also discussed splitting up the programming committee into cultural arts, membership, and social committees. Current OPALGA Co-Chair Brad Bartels said this would “enhance the programming we do and help us come up with things that would engage the broader community.”
The third step, increasing and diversifying funding, is important because this is “a key time for the lesbian and gay community” as the nation discusses discrimination against gays and gay marriage, Cochran said. To do so, he said, the group will look for outside grant sources and put on new fundraisers.