LGBT Center’s Economic Development Program Offers Useful Resources
Exclusive Q&A with program director Ken Stram

By Bill Sywak

This year’s Pride Kickoff Celebration at the LGBT Center is titled “Start Here, Go Anywhere.” The June 7 event begins at 12:30 p.m. and will feature an open house for members of the community to come and learn about all the center has to offer.

One of the many resources the center offers is its very own Economic Development Program. This program offers help to those interested in opening a new business, coaching to job-seekers in effective job search strategies and counseling to help people grow and manage their own financial resources. The office is also involved in attracting new businesses to the Castro.

Ken Stram is the Director of Economic Development Programs at the center. Stram brings a background as a lawyer and legislative assistant in Washington, D.C., and as a director in the U.S. Small Business Administration to the center. Stram also has worked in the marketing section of the SF Chamber of Commerce. Having moved to San Francisco ten years ago, Stram helped found and raise money for the Center.

The Courier recently sat down with Stram to ask about economic development in the neighborhood and employment issues facing the LGBT community.

Courier: How was the Center created and its economic development program shaped?
Ken Stram: The vision for the LGBT Center was developed over the past decade. In 2000 the San Francisco Human Rights Commission conducted a set of hearings and issued a report, the first such document to study the situation of the LGBT community in San Francisco.

It had been assumed that not having children, the gay community was made up of wealthy white men. The report showed that gay men actually make much less than straight men, that lesbian couples make much less than heterosexual couples, and similar information. To this day, the report and updates can be accessed on the Web site of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
In 2004, Supervisor Bevan Dufty and (then) LGBT Executive Director Thom Lynch went to the Mayor’s Office of Community Development and obtained the initial grant of $75,000. After they secured the money, the funds sat idle for nearly a year because no one knew how best to use them.

That’s when I entered the picture. I had a background in economic development and had helped in getting the LGBT Center up and running. I had my own public relations business at the time and only wanted to be a consultant to the program. Soon I realized that implementing the economic development initiatives at the center was a full time job, so I applied for the job and got it. Today the funding behind the programs has increased about ten times, and the city still contributes approximately fifty percent of the program.

I’m very proud of the work we do. It’s rare that we get negative feedback. I love my work, I love doing this.

How did you get involved in economic development and the gay community?
When I was working in Washington, D.C., I was sort of outed on the job, and it was a very traumatic experience. The outcome was that I decided that I would never, ever go back.

So when you’re a job seeker in an interview situation, and especially when you’re sitting there with some guy who has a picture of the wife and kids on his desk, and you’re thinking “does he know I’m gay? Should I come out to him during this interview?” you are having an internal dialogue with yourself.

In effect, you’re creating a barrier between yourself and this person. By having all these services at the center, we’re creating a safe space where people can express themselves without worrying about who they are at all.

How does the center help people get jobs?
We are very fortunate to have David Bach, our workforce development specialist, as the person in charge of our Workforce Development Program. For a number of years David was the owner and hands-on leader of Bach Personnel, a gay placement firm he founded in the Castro. With the center’s prior executive director, Thom Lynch, David brought his energy, experience, creativity and capacity for designing programs that would work for people in the LGBT community.

The result is that the Workforce Development Program now provides workshops for job seekers and employers, one-on-one counseling, and job fairs where diversity-minded companies come to the center and meet with potential candidates in a variety of fields and professions.

We have had over a dozen job fairs thus far with between 100 and 300 job seekers attending at some point during the day. In addition, we have held transgender job fairs as well, and 50 job seekers came to the last fair.

I am familiar with at least two Castro businesses that obtained technical assistance from the Center’s Business Development Program that was essential to their operation and growth. Could you comment on the type of help you offer?
Sometimes when I walk through the Castro I recall the businesses we have assisted and the kind of help we have given. Business development assistance varies with the needs of the business and can include help with such areas as financial consulting, loan packaging and marketing.

Probably the best type of assistance we offer is post-loan technical assistance. We have helped people do feasibility studies, get help with business plans and loan packages, secure space in the Castro, make introductions to lenders, and even get feedback on how they perform as a businessperson. In short, we start with an individual assessment of the business, help with getting financing and then work with the business afterwards.

Everything we offer is free. We never judge or discourage people but help connect them with the right resources. San Francisco has a wealth of incredible resources, and it is important for business people to know what is available and how to approach it. The initial $75,000 grant from the city was focused specifically on business development, and the Center has leveraged many other related resources, like free workshops.

I had the good fortune to attend much of the LGBT Economic Empowerment Day at the Center on Saturday, January 26. Could you summarize the intent and content of that program?
This was our Financial Growth and Development Program, our newest program which we kicked off at that all-day conference. Many people come to San Francisco without knowing how expensive living here can be and are barely getting by. Our objective was to help people start saving money, get a credit rating, learn how to manage money better, be able to get a home, save for retirement and achieve other financial goals.

The day had three tracks, and people attended the sessions of their choosing. The first track was for people just getting started, for younger individuals just beginning their savings or people starting over after a bankruptcy, for example. The middle track was about accumulating wealth, such as being smart about tapping the equity in your home. And the third track was aimed at seniors – the first time we had done anything for seniors – about retirement and financial security.

How would you assess the day?
Considering that it was a rainy Saturday outside, we were pleasantly surprised at how many came to this free event and stayed all day. 61 people filled out surveys, and sample comments included “it put me on the path to doing more about my own situation” and even “it was transformational.” While we do not have any major grant funds to support this program yet, the attendees were appreciative of the caliber of the keynote speakers and expert panelists we were able to assemble.

Could you describe your so-called “broker tours?”
In order to maintain a healthy economy in the Castro, we have been organizing and facilitating periodic “broker tours” of vacant commercial space, recognizing that vacant properties can drag down the vitality of a neighborhood.

We especially want to make brokers from other areas of the city familiar with the opportunities in the Castro. The Business Attraction Program is under the full time management of Tracey Williams, our business assistance specialist. It’s funded by the city, the Community Benefit District, and Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC).

What are you doing for the transgender community?
First of all, the statistics for unemployment and underemployment in the transgender community are so high that they are nearly unbelievable. As a result, the center launched its largest economic development program in a huge collaboration with the Transgender Law Center (TLC) and San Francisco’s Jewish Vocational Service (TLC was begun in 2002 with support from the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and later the Pride Law Fund, and the Echoing Green Foundation and is now an independent nonprofit organization.). 

Our Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative (TEEI) is designed to assist transgender individuals becoming self-sufficienct through stable employment.

TEEI services include job navigation and post placement support, a mentoring program, and legal and technical services for employers and HR managers to make workplaces safer for transgender employees.

The job situation is probably ten times as complicated when you’re a member of the transgender community. A prospective employer can come away enthusiastic after interviewing you over the phone, then you go to the interview as a transgender person, and you never get a call back. At transgender job fairs we train employers as well as job seekers and then, after the job fair, we follow-up with the job seekers. Our goal is to get the job seekers in a place where they are going to be safe. One successful technique we use is to get every transgender employee to have a mentor and get help as needed from the mentor instead of going to human resources.

For more information about “Start Here, Go Anywhere” visit sfcenter.org. The LGBT Center is located at 1800 Market St.

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