In an email to its mailing list, Seattle Black Pride has announced its intention to dissolve the non-profit organization that has for the past three years sponsored a major Pride event in July along with several community outreach programs.
The three remaining board members of the group say in the email, "The decision to dissolve the organization was a result of several months of discussion by the Board of Directors and numerous attempts to cultivate new leadership and support for the organization."
They heard plenty of support in the community for the goals of the organization, the board member say, but they couldn't find people who would dedicate the time necessary to keep the organization running.
"[T]he commitment of providing leadership to an organization such as SBP was more than what people were able to commit to for various reasons," the board member say, in what they call a "bitter sweet" farewell email.
The email is signed by Kiantha Duncan-Woods, SBP's board president and a member of the founding board of directors; Harnik Gulati, another member of the founding board of directors; and Darrell Goodwin, Seattle Black Pride Vice President.
Calling SBP "monumental in the history of Black GLBT in Washington," they note the "sweet" memory of the that the work accomplished by the group during its three years:
Over the past three years Seattle Black Pride has been very successful in organizing and mobilizing Washington’s GLBT community. We have held Annual Black Pride Celebrations bringing thousands of Same Gender Loving people together for social events, film festivals and educational workshops. Most importantly, we have had the opportunity to provide space for individuals to connect and form support systems for one another....
Seattle Black Pride has had the pleasure of being involved with several community initiatives such as developing a SBP Benevolent fund from which we were able to assist community members with financial assistance for emergency needs such as housing, utility assistance and food, feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving, providing HIV/AIDS Prevention services, collecting food for community food drives, donating monies to other non profit organizations serving GLBT people of color and collaborating with other community organizations serving the GLBT community at large.
It is, indeed, unfortunate to see a group as effective as SBP shut down, but it's a pleasure to see a group that recognizes when it can no longer be effective. All too often, organizations struggle on past their effective reason for existence.
The SBP board members recognize in their email that another group might now be able to grow out of the void left by SBP's exit.
"We encourage you all to maintain relationships that were developed through this organization," the board members say in the group's farewell.
They advise members to "continue to band together when possible to give voice to our community and remember that the organization was a success for many reasons but the main reason being that together we gave voice and visibility to our Black GLBT community in a way that cannot be forgotten"