➤ NON-PROFITS & COVID, from p.18
last year.
“What really impacted us is we
had various events going on at different
restaurants and bars in the
neighborhood and that had to shut
down,” Neely explained, adding
that there was also a signifi cant
drop in sponsorship funding. “Our
main event, Harlem Pride celebration
day, garnered 20,000 people
last year — we had to cancel that…
We are at a bit of a defi cit in terms
of planning for next year.”
Despite the hit in sponsorship
revenue, Neely said Harlem Pride
has been bolstered during the
pandemic by individual donors
and private foundations, leaving
the team in solid position to pay
bills. Private foundations have
even chipped in more money than
usual during the crisis.
“Quite a few of our solid sponsors
who have been with us from
the beginning and throughout
the majority of our 11 years came
through with various options and
packages that we were able to work
with,” Neely explained.
Because Harlem Pride couldn’t
go on as planned, the team created
a digital hub and adjusted its
“ShowOUT” performance event by
facilitating performances featuring
an “American Idol”-like competition.
Website traffi c, Neely said,
also increased during the COVID
era, “but not to the degree we
hoped it would.” Many folks have
traditionally connected to Harlem
Pride through its Facebook page,
she explained, so awareness of its
website’s offerings needed to be
promoted.
“With social media, we were pretty
much happy with what we got,”
Neely said. “We have what we typically
have and a little bit more.”
Like everyone else, the team at
Harlem Pride is cognizant of the realities
of the pandemic: Long-term
planning remains a challenge for
the foreseeable future due to the
volatile nature of the virus.
“I doubt next year will allow us
to have typical celebrations, but we
just don’t know what to expect and
it’s hard to predict,” Neely added.
God’s Love We Deliver, which delivers
more than two million weekday
meals per year to New York
area residents too sick to consistently
shop or cook on their own,
was deemed an essential service
provider and has continued serving
folks throughout the pandemic.
But the team has been forced to
grapple with the daunting task of
meeting demand while adhering to
coronavirus guidelines.
“We originally lost volunteers
and then we gained volunteers…
but we had to decrease volunteers
on shifts just so we could socially
distance,” Findley recalled, noting
that there was a 60 percent reduction
in God’s Love’s volunteer force
compared to a 25 percent increase
in clients and meals. “We’ve had
fewer folks in the kitchen but we
still gotta deliver 10,000 meals per
day.”
At Movement Advancement Project,
an independent think tank
dedicated to developing research
and insight with the goal of bolstering
equality and opportunity
for the LGBTQ community, there is
a broader focus on the ways groups
have been impacted by the pandemic.
Mushovic pointed to some
lessons learned during the crisis,
such as the way in which virtual
programs can benefi t individuals
in remote, rural areas where such
offerings have historically been
nonexistent.
But she also cited issues that
have emerged: She warned that
community centers nationwide are
facing serious fi nancial jeopardy
and also raised questions about
how advocacy organizations are
going to lobby lawmakers at a time
when “you can’t go into a politician’s
offi ce and have face-to-face
conversations.”
Mushovic also said community
centers that rely on programmatic
income are bracing for signifi cant
reductions in funding from government
and other sources.
“We’re very concerned because
our view is that we’re in for a tough
winter,” Mushovic said.
The sponsors who made the
event possible were MetroPlus
Health, AARP New York City, Apicha
Community Health Center,
New York City Health + Hospitals/
Kings County, and the AIDS
Healthcare Foundation.
The entirety of the wide-ranging
discussion can be viewed on You-
Tube at https://youtu.be/g5nIiLDDaAU.
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GayCityNews.com | July 16 - July 29, 2020 19
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