By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Officials from Howard Brown Health Center and the newly renamed Lesbian Community Care Project last week described changes in store for both organizations as they complete the agencies’ merger.

At a press conference Oct. 24, Dominique Leonardi, board president of LCCP, said the combination of the two organization’s resources would more effectively serve lesbian, bisexual and transgender women.

“LCCP and Howard Brown will serve our community better together than we do separately. In a world where funding is competitive and tenuous, combining both of our expertise and strategic resources to build the best care for LBT women is the most ethical choice for us and the community,” Leonardi said. “Howard Brown provided the expert care of body and mind. LCCP provided the advocacy, public education and outreach.”

Leonardi added that she would be serving on the Howard Brown board of directors and that an LCCP advisory board is being established.

According to Catherine Jefcoat, LCCP interim executive director, the organization’s 2004 move into the Howard Brown building has increased the number of women receiving care in the facility.

“We have doubled the number of women that have been served in this building, and this fiscal year we are looking to serve more than 6,000 women,” Jefcoat said.

Jefcoat, who is joining the Howard Brown senior management team, described LCCP as being “the hub of everything woman- and lesbian-related at Howard Brown.”

“This is what community-building looks like,” added Michael Cook, Howard Brown president and CEO. “The boards (and) staffs of the two organizations had a real joint mission (and) desire to serve the community and we are very proud of this collaboration. Joined as partners in our common cause, we will be stronger and more effective and have greater capacity to serve those most in need in our community.”

The 2004 move left Chicago without a stand-alone organization dedicated to lesbian healthcare, drawing criticism from some in the community. Cook said that if similar criticism arises because of the merger, it will be unfounded.

“The collaboration between us was looked at with some skepticism early on,” Cook acknowledged. “(But) we have proved here with the combination of Howard Brown-LCCP that this is and should be one community. One community with many faces, but still, one community.

“The fact that we have been able, in these three years, to double the number of women served within Howard Brown demonstrates that this combination makes the organization stronger and serves the community better.”

He added that the new name—Lesbian Community Care Project—reflected that the organization’s scope would be able to expand. Jefcoat also mentioned that Howard Brown would take a deeper interest in cancer research and treatment.

With respect to LCCP’s mission, Jefcoat said, “This is the ultimate decision that is better than any wildest dream we could have thought of three or four years ago.”

Leonardi said that LCCP’s annual events—a fall brunch Nov. 17 and a winter ball in March—would continue and that all proceeds would still support LCCP programming.