• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From CEO Lorri L. Jean
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Vaccine Clinic for Sex Workers Provides Nearly 70 Doses to High-Risk Community
  • Center CEO Joe Hollendoner: It’s Time to Start Treating Human Monkeypox Like the Emergency It Is
  • Calls for Equity, Expanded Access Dominate Monkeypox Town Hall
  • The Center’s Senior Prom 2022: Camaraderie, Visibility, and Smooches on the Dance Floor
  • Pride Picnic Returns as One of Pride Month’s Most Joyous and Inclusive Events
  • The Los Angeles LGBT Center Issues Latest Information on the Monkeypox Outbreak in Los Angeles and Its Effect on the LGBTQ+ Community
  • Meet Marissa Marqusee, Program Manager for the Audre Lorde Health Program
  • The Return of the Trans Pride Love Bubble
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From CEO Lorri L. Jean
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»Incoming CEO Joe Hollendoner Poised to Continue Moving Center Forward

Incoming CEO Joe Hollendoner Poised to Continue Moving Center Forward

0
By on May 13, 2022 Community

By Greg Hernandez

Joe Hollendoner knew the enormity and the symbolism of the moment.

Last November, more than 300 sustaining donors had been invited to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus for a celebratory appreciation event to thank them for their ongoing and impactful support during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Longtime Center Chief Executive Officer Lorri L. Jean introduced Hollendoner — for the first time at an in-person, public event—as the man who would be taking the reigns of the organization upon her retirement in July 2022.

“Here I am today, standing on this Campus about to become the CEO of this iconic organization, and I am truly moved beyond words,” Hollendoner said to the group. “It’s a pretty overwhelming thing coming into this organization and to be its new leader on the heels of its incredibly successful CEO like none other our movement has ever seen. There is no better organization for me to fulfill my life’s mission than the Los Angeles LGBT Center.”

Speaking directly to Jean and retiring Chief of Staff Darrel Cummings Hollendoner then said: “I just want to guarantee you and Darrel that your baby is in good hands.”

How A Leader Was Born

Hollendoner led San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) as Chief Executive Officer from 2016 until he began at the Center in July 2021. During his tenure, he spearheaded the adoption of a new five-year strategic plan in 2019 that prioritized the expansion of health and social services and established racial justice as a fundamental principle to guide the organization’s growth.

During his time at SFAF, the organization’s revenue grew by 84 percent, and corporate and private donations to support the organization’s life-saving services increased significantly.

Prior to leading SFAF, Hollendoner was chief of staff and first deputy commissioner at the Chicago Department of Public Health, the nation’s third largest health department.

From 2001 to 2012, he served in several roles at Howard Brown Health, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ health organization, and ultimately became its vice president and chief program officer. While at Howard Brown, Hollendoner was one of the founders of Broadway Youth Center (BYC), a comprehensive health and social services center for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.

Hollendoner has been part of the LGBTQ movement since coming out as gay at the age of 16. He got a lot of support from his family at this time but not at his all-boys high school in the suburbs of Chicago.

He shared with the crowd at November’s sustaining donor event how a group of guys cornered him at school one day and started calling him anti-gay slurs and throwing punches. He remembered running to the school principal’s office with tears and blood rolling down his cheeks and asking: “What are you going to do to keep me safe?” The principal paused and said, “I’m going to pray for you.”

“I knew in that moment I had one of two choices: I could either sink into a further depression or I could go get the help I knew that I deserved,” he recalled.

Hollendoner went to the public library to do research and found out about a nearby youth drop-in center for LGBT people.

“The moment I walked through the doors, my life changed forever,” he remembered. “In that moment, I not only found my community, but I discovered a safe space where I could be my authentic self. It was at that group where I ultimately found my life’s mission which was to make sure that no member of the LGBT community ever went without the support that they deserve and that my life’s mission was going to be committed to the liberation of all LGBT people.”

Hitting the Ground Running

With nearly 25 years of LGBTQ movement leadership, Hollendoner joined the Center in July 2021 with the temporary title of Executive Director and has since been working alongside Jean and Cummings in leading the world’s largest LGBT organization.

He quickly began immersing himself in the organization’s work and culture. He embedded himself in various Center programs including volunteering at the youth shelter and Pride Pantry, spending time at the Trans Wellness Center, Mi Centro, and Center South, and with seniors at Triangle Square. He even took a cooking lesson alongside Culinary Arts program students in the Center’s commercial kitchen.

“I’m so proud that the Center has been able to evolve and innovate its work during the pandemic to make sure that we’re responding to the ever-changing needs of our community,” he observes. “Not only is the demand high, what we are seeing from our clients and community members is that the needs they are experiencing are more dire and more complex than before the pandemic.”

Hollendoner has also been a presence at most of the in-person events the Center has been able to hold during the pandemic and was among the volunteers who personally delivered Thanksgiving meals to the homes of seniors that were prepared by Culinary Arts students and staff members for nearly 900 people.

“When I arrived on my first doorstep and knocked on the door, I was greeted immediately with a warm smile and words of gratitude towards the Center,” he shared that day. “To hear all the ways in which the Center had supported them, it just made me feel so much gratitude for the staff and volunteers of the Center and for our clients and the community that we serve.”

An Emerging Vision

One of Hollendoner’s initial goals has been to address race and gender-based health disparities within the LGBTQ+ community through significant expansion of programming at existing Center community sites.

He has made it a priority to expand the services at the Center’s Audre Lorde Health Program and at its Mi Centro located in Boyle Heights with full-time staff members dedicated to the programs. This and a number of other initiatives have been made possible through new multiyear grant funding provided by Gilead Sciences.

“Within my first few months at the Center I met with staff serving on committees for both Audre Lorde and Mi Centro,” Hollendoner explains. “The conversations in those two meetings were very similar; staff spoke of how proud they were of what had been accomplished but identified the need for a full-time manager to help truly fully the program’s vision. Hearing this feedback and recognizing the importance of these two programs, I left both meetings committed to securing funding to hiring these roles.”

Hollendoner has further displayed a commitment to diversity with the hiring in January of Gerald Garth as the Center’s first director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).  Garth is working with Center leadership and staff on creating a racial equity plan to establish actionable and measurable initiatives in every Center department to further the effort of dismantling systemic racism.

When it comes to getting to know some of the Center’s nearly 800 employees spread out over 10 locations, Hollendoner has sought to connect virtually when it hasn’t been possible to in person.

He personally led Wellness Wednesday virtual sessions for Center staff during the entire month of January when most were working remotely due to a surge of the Omicron variant and launched a Cup of Joe video feature in which he has coffee and casual conversation with a different staff member about their background and their role at the Center.

“As a social worker who spent most of my career in direct service, I know what it is like to be on the frontline and how challenging it can be,” he says. “Something that is important to me is that Center employees have the support they deserve to do often unimaginable work.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

Vaccine Clinic for Sex Workers Provides Nearly 70 Doses to High-Risk Community

Calls for Equity, Expanded Access Dominate Monkeypox Town Hall

The Center’s Senior Prom 2022: Camaraderie, Visibility, and Smooches on the Dance Floor

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Sep 17
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Voices: The Trans Journey in III Acts

Oct 22
9:00 am - 6:00 pm

Models of Pride

View Calendar
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
Serving charisma, nerve, and talent! The Center wa Serving charisma, nerve, and talent! The Center was thrilled to welcome some of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 queens to volunteer at our Pride Pantry. Talk about serving - and all of them with killer manicures to boot! 💅🏽

Check out the #DragRace mural celebrating the Emmy® nominated season at the iconic LA destination, Carerra Cafe! Stop by and use #DragRaceFYCMural, tag @RuPaulsDragRace, and @lalgbtcenter in your Instagram posts, and VH1 will make a donation to the Center. Strike a pose and werk it out in front of this stellar mural!
@aidslifecycle's 2023 season opens in less than on @aidslifecycle's 2023 season opens in less than one week on August 17! Register as a Cyclist or Roadie for just $55, or as an At Home Hero for $45! Visit aidslifecycle.org to sign up for updates and to learn more!
The Los Angeles LGBT Center supports CA State Sen. The Los Angeles LGBT Center supports CA State Sen. @Scott_Wiener's SB 57 measure, which would allow for the creation and implementation of overdose prevention centers in L.A., San Francisco, and Oakland. 
.
Last week, Gov. @gavinnewsom expressed strong support for Sen. Wiener’s bill. The Center has hosted safe and compassionate overdose prevention programs for several years, including a clean needle exchange program. #Harmreduction programs save lives and help people find a path to treatment and healthy living.
.
Learn more about the bill and what you can do by clicking on the link in our bio.
L.A. County is prioritizing first doses in its #hM L.A. County is prioritizing first doses in its #hMPXV vaccination effort.

“There is good science to back that change," says Dr. Ward Carpenter, the Center's director of Health Services.

Read the full story at @latimes and click the link in our bio to learn more.
The Los Angeles LGBT Center was glad to welcome ne The Los Angeles LGBT Center was glad to welcome newly-appointed #LACounty #DCFS Director Brandon Nichols for a tour on Friday morning. The Center is proud to be working with DCFS to provide support services to #LGBTQ+ youth and families within the child welfare system. We look forward to a continued partnership under Director Nichols’ leadership.
Are you stressed about #humanmonkeypox? Are you wo Are you stressed about #humanmonkeypox?
Are you worried about the repercussions of the way media is displaying the #LGBT+ community?
Need a space to vent and share about this traumatic situation?
.
Join us for a #HealingCircle to share your stories, find comfort in #community, and support one another. 
.
Monkeypox Community #Healing #Circle
Zoom Only: Tuesday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m.
RSVP via comments or DM to receive link.
.
In Person at The Village (Address): Tuesday, Aug. 16, 7 p.m.
Please RSVP via comments or DM
.
To help keep our community as safe as possible, standard #COVID19 precautions will be in place for the in-person session, and we ask anyone with symptoms that could be or are confirmed to be monkeypox to join only the online session.
Stay up to date on #hMPXV and the Center's respons Stay up to date on #hMPXV and the Center's response by visiting lgbtnewsnow.org/monkeypox
UPDATE: Effective immediately, the Los Angeles LGB UPDATE: Effective immediately, the Los Angeles LGBT Center will comply with L.A. County guidance to prioritize administering first doses of the JYNNEOS human monkeypox (hMPXV) vaccine and only offer second doses to moderately or severely immunocompromised individuals. 
.
This will include those with advanced or poorly controlled HIV infection. This strategy will remain in effect until more doses become available for eligible community members.
 .
Neither one nor two doses of vaccine are 100% effective at preventing hMPXV infection. As such, additional harm reduction strategies like minimizing skin-to-skin contact with others, using condoms, limiting sexual partners, and wearing clothing while in settings like dancefloors where prolonged contact may occur are encouraged regardless of vaccine status. 
.
L.A. County guidance is aligned with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and many other large city jurisdictions including New York City and Washington D.C.
 .
The Los Angeles LGBT Center appreciates your understanding and support of this strategy as it will allow more people who are at risk for hMPXV to be better protected. Please know that the Center will continue our efforts to demand that The White House make more doses of JYNNEOS as well as treatment available to our community.
 .
Please visit the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s Monkeypox Prevention site for more information or lalgbtcenter.org/monkeypox
Our confidence in the #Biden Administration’s ab Our confidence in the #Biden Administration’s ability to halt the spread of #hMPXV is strengthened with the appointment of a @WhiteHouse human monkeypox team, which includes @drdemetre as the deputy coordinator. #DrDaskalakis, a well-known gay activist, has an extensive history in #HIV/#AIDS work, and with his leadership, the team will be able to develop a more coordinated and robust response that should also address the stigma associated with hMPXV and the #LGBTQ community.
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe

Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.