Letters to the Editor
An Open Letter
to Readers:
OITM Needs Your Help!
As the May issue goes to press,
our last two remaining board members, Brian Cote and Greg Weaver, are
holding an emergency meeting of friends and supporters to try to keep
Out in the Mountains/ Mountain Pride Media afloat. The situation, I am
told, is not so much financial, though our revenues are down this year,
but is serious because we have lost most of our board members in recent
months, for a variety of reasons.
How can you help? Contact Brian or
Greg by emailing them at board@mountainpridemedia.org
and offer to help out, if only temporarily. OITM needs new board members
and volunteers to help in many aspects of the paper.
New people bring new energy, ideas and strength
to the process of creating each issue and providing the financial support
the paper needs. Volunteering is a great way to make friends, share knowledge
and develop skills.
Please let us know if you have other
ideas about how the paper should operate. Do you think the paper has outlived
its usefulness? Let us know why. Perhaps you have ideas about a different
format for the paper that has served the LGBT community in Vermont for
20 years. How can the paper better serve you? What needs to change?
We have a small paid staff of 3 part-time
workers, and approximately 100 dedicated volunteers each month, including
the board of directors, who keep this paper going. Whatever direction
OITM takes from here, please know how much we appreciate your hours and
energy and support. OITM is part of our community.
We hope it can continue.
Lynn McNicol
Editor, Out in the Mountains
Subscriptions Wanted
As a member of the queer community
in Vermont, I am concerned about the financial health of Mountain Pride
Media and its publication Out In The Mountains. Since 2001, I have volunteered
at the monthly stuffing party at which people come together to get out
the paper. Along with several others, I get out the subscriptions each
month, putting address labels on envelopes, inserting the papers, sealing
the envelopes and then doing the sort and packaging process in accordance
with USPS regulations for bulk mailing. While a small group does this,
a much larger group of volunteers packs the many free copies that are
distributed in Vermont and a few other out-of state locations.
Each month since the winter of 2002-2003,
the number of subscriptions is smaller and smaller.
This reduction has an undeniable impact
on the paper. The revenue from subscriptions is dropping. But even more
important, advertisers, who provide the primary support for the paper,
want to know that the paper is important to Vermont residents. After all,
that readership is what they get in return for their advertising dollars.
There is no question that interest
in the paper was at fever pitch during the civil union debate. But there
are issues of similar importance as the 21st century begins.
Fact is, if LGBTQI people in
Vermont want a newspaper that reports on issues and happenings of importance
to us, we have to support it. The MPM board of directors, the editor and
operations director and a large group of volunteers, including journalists
are doing their part. The community must also do its part.
I hope those of you who have
the money to pay for a subscription will subscribe now. And, if you can
send a donation too, that would be even better.
Robert William Wolff
Randolph VT
The Low-Down on Buying a Home
The great American Dream is undoubtedly
to purchase a home. I was very excited to see Jeffery Hammerberg's article
("No Money Down," April 2006) that reviewed some of the options
available to perspective purchasers, but I feel it left out one of the
best educational resources available to folks in Vermont - five Home Ownership
Centers (HOCs) that offer incomparable educational services to future
homebuyers.
HOCs help you determine if homeownership
is right for you, help you through the process of buying a home step by
step, and provide post-purchase support.
They have free weekly orientations
that explain all the services they offer. If you decide to continue working
with them, you pay a small fee for a credit report and workshop materials,
and attend one of their monthly Home Buyer Workshops. Other services are
free:
Credit and Budget Counseling. If you
need to rebuild your credit or would like guidance on budgeting toward
buying a home, they offer private one-on-one counseling.
Financial Assistance. They help you
find the most affordable home financing options, which may include help
with down payment and closing costs. Their staff helps you contact the
lender you choose and works with you every step of the way.
Special Lender Programs. They guide
you to the resources that help you buy the most home for your money.
Home Maintenance Education. Make the
most of your home and keep it in great shape by sitting in on their home
maintenance/ repair and lawn and garden care workshops led by experts
in the field.
Home Rehab Planning and Loans. They
work with you to make a post inspection rehab plan to ensure you have
the resources to fix any problems in your new home.
Delinquency Intervention. If you get
behind in your mortgage payments, they'll work with you to get you back
on track and in good standing.
The Chittenden, Franklin and
Grand Isle HOCs partner with Burlington Community Land Trust (BCLT), to
create perpetually affordable housing using the land trust model. Land
trust homes come with substantial grants, often eliminating down payments,
resulting in substantially lower mortgage amounts. To learn more about
HOCs and BCTL visit www.getahome.org
and www.bctl.net
Although many lenders will provide
these services to you, they are generally selling their own product and
are slightly biased towards what they are selling. BCLT is not selling
a product, rather they are providing a service to help people understand
what their options are and help people along the path to the American
Dream.
Josh Slade
Colchester
Josh Slade is employed by BCLT where he works with the Co-op Housing
Program.