Halsted Center transforms lives

Halsted Center transforms lives
By LAURA WASHINGTON LauraSWashington@aol.com
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
May 21, 2007

The view from the corner of Waveland Avenue and Halsted Street will never be the same. On June 8, the Center on Halsted will be unveiled at a portentous gala, "Out and Open." The buzz is so hot that the 1,000 tickets sold out three weeks ago -- at $500 a pop and up.

Last week, on a tour of the facility, I learned why it was such an easy sell. Gensler, the global architecture firm, fashioned a striking mix of old and new, featuring an art deco facade and gleaming, glass-walled lobby. The 175,000-square-foot complex is anchored at the northern tip of Chicago's Boys Town. The city's first gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender comprehensive community center is also the first of its kind in the nation. The nonprofit GLBT headquarters is the brainchild of a visionary circle of activists, leaders and entrepreneurs.

Michael Leppen, a longtime donor to gay causes, was there. His aunt Miriam U. Hoover donated $1 million for the center's theater and performance space. What does it mean to him? It's "a beacon light for the city. It's a beacon light for the rest of the world," he said. "We are not looking back. We're looking forward."

Patrick Sheahan, an executive with UBS and the center's chairman emeritus, said the eight-year, communitywide planning process culminated in one word: "transparency." GLBTs "wanted a place that was clean, that was open, something they could be proud of. Not too long ago, we gathered behind smoked glass," he said.

Beery, dark bars were once the wellspring of GLBT life in Chicago. Taverns in Boys Town, Andersonville and beyond were a refuge for some, a curse for others.

Young people grappling with their sexual and gender identities had nowhere to turn. They couldn't turn to incredulous or unsympathetic parents. They could not rely on a hostile church. They were too young to seek respite in a bar. They were left to the streets. The center is an answered prayer for GLBT youth. Though it is not yet "officially" open, young people are already lining up for an array of offerings: recreational activities, sports, counseling, vocational and computer training. In the last three weeks, the center has nearly doubled the number of GLBT youths served -- to 150 a week.

There's a panoply of programs and amenities for all ages: mental health counseling, an HIV/AIDS hotline, culinary training, mentoring, legal assistance, a cyber center, a rooftop garden, and more. The 175-seat Hoover-Leppen Theatre will host performances, commitment ceremonies, baby showers, a GLBT "prom" and civic gatherings. "It's our church," said Modesto "Tico" Valle, the center's executive director.

The center is not only transparent. It is transformative. Its honchos made the brilliant decision to lease the building's ground floor to Whole Foods, the sole commercial tenant. The rental fees will add some heft to the center's endowment, projected to hit $6.5 million in three years. The grocery store will open this summer.

I live in the neighborhood, and let me tell you: Everyone -- gay and straight -- is champing at the bit to get into that store for their shots of wheat grass, organic veggies and pomegranate juice. To get there, all visitors enter through the center's airy lobby cafe. "The minute Whole Foods came to us, we said, 'If we are going to give up that much square footage, we've got to make it so these two constituencies interact.' What a great way to live out our mission, to get people to understand our community," Sheahan opined.

There's a transformative lesson a lot of communities could learn, especially my own.