Rainbow in Trouble

Por Raúl Arce

When counselor Gail Faulstich begins her day at her office at A Rainbow Place, a GLBT organization based in Reno, she knows her job is rewarding in every sense except financially.

She, like all of ARP’s staff, is currently working without pay in order to keep the organization alive.

This year critical fund sources were cut making ARP struggle just to pay the monthly rent, let alone the various programs and services they offer for free to the community.

Mickey Law, ARP’s current president, said funds for AIDS education and counseling were cut by the federal government, which in turn prevents the state from reapproving and distributing new grants.

“The federal government has been horrifying,” said Law, who runs a private counseling practice on the side.  “They’ve cut about $29 million in the last two years and it’s been terrible.”

ARP has an annual budget of about $400,000 mostly covered by state grants. But last year grants only covered half that amount and this year Law is projecting that grants will cover between $90 and $100 thousand.

As a result, ARP now relies on fundraising and donations.  Lowering the budget and eliminating programs and services have not been discussed by the board but is a possibility, according to Law.

“We’re going to be doing some serious fundraising and serious grant writing to pull ourselves out this year,” Law with a cheerful voice indicating a glimmer of hope.

Just last month a single person donated an entire month’s rent.

But while ARP requests a donation from every person receiving counseling or other services at the center, they don’t turn anybody away.  Moreover, fundraisers typically bring in only a couple thousand dollars according to Law. 

For Faulstich, the reality is hard to ignore.

There’s usually two days a week that ARP’s limited space is used to its limits, and sometimes beyond as people have to meet outside.

“We’re getting to a point to where space is going to be a big issue,” said Faulstich, who also has a private practice on the side.  “We have good faith in the community that they know we care enough to provide the services even if we don’t have the funding or the space.”

ARP’s vice president Jeff Auer wants the center to house what would be the only GLBT library in Nevada, but because of the organization’s financial troubles, he has no set date for the completion of the project.

“500 books is how many we have now, we can’t go beyond that because we don’t have the space at the center right now,” said Auer.  “If we could get more funding, that would help.”

Auer said a limited number of books are available now to check out, and is hoping for an unspecified date in the fall to have all the books available.

ARP was founded eight years ago in Carson City by local GLBT activist Ben Felix as a response to the rise in teen suicides in the late 90’s, many as a result of teens questioning their sexuality. 

Now the center, which moved to its current location a year and a half ago, offers a variety of services, including emergency drop-in counseling, HIV/AIDS counseling, mentoring, meditation and many social opportunities for gay youth.

“A lot of people don’t have anywhere else to go except bars,” said Mandy Schettler, 16, who is a regular at the center and is part of the Youth Group performance program which performs fundraisers for ARP a few times a year. 

“We meet new friends in here; this is like my second home,” said Shettler.

For now Law plans on trimming the budget by working more with interns and staff volunteers to keep the center open.

“We will continue to struggle and get by as best as we can,” she said.

As far as closing its doors, Law prefers not to think about it too much.

“We’re not there yet at this point,” she said.  “But that’s always scary.”