Editorial
Guest
Editorial
Mountain Pride Media Marches Ahead
Mountain
Pride Media, the publisher of Out in the Mountains, has hired its first
executive director in the nonprofit’s 21-year history. “That
just feels really good,” MPM Board of Directors President Brian
Cote said. “The board now can focus on what the board should focus
on, and the day-to-day work will be handled by a professional.”
Greg Weaver, a two-year member of
MPM’s board, was appointed as the new full-time executive director
for the organization. He began work mid-August.
“I think it’s a good match
and I’m really looking forward to working with the paper and with
the community,” Greg, 55, said in his first week on the job.
Greg, who was born in St. Louis, has
spent the better part of his life in the southern United States. Many
of his management positions in the financial industry were located in
Alabama and Atlanta. Greg moved to Vermont with his partner, Patrick,
two years ago. The couple lives in Williston with their cairn terrier,
Oskar.
Board members acknowledge that
hiring a fulltime executive director for an organization whose future
was called into question earlier this year is a big step.
“We have in the past had a 15-hour-a-week
operations manager and that has been basically just keeping the lights
on,” Brian said. “It’s created a situation where we
haven’t been as proactive in reaching out to the community as we
could, as proactive in working with our advertisers and increasing our
presence in the state.”
Without a full-time administrator,
Brian said, a lot of work fell to the board. When the dwindling number
of board members reached two this spring - Brian and Greg - they called
a community meeting to discuss the future of the state’s only media
source dedicated to news about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
issues.
“It really became apparent that
the structure has to change or else MPM isn’t going to exist and
the paper isn’t going to exist,” Brian said. At the community
meeting on April 23, Brian said, “we got a clear response that the
paper must go on and that MPM must exist in some form or fashion.”
The hiring of a full-time Executive
Director is one of a series of recent changes for the organization. In
the last three months, the size of the board has tripled with the addition
of four new board members.
Greg will remain on the board, and
a seventh member is expected to be voted in at the board’s August
meeting, after this edition goes to print.
Brian emphasized that Lynn McNicol,
editor for six months, has been key to Out in the Mountains moving
forward through a time of great transition.
“We have every confidence in
our editor,” Brian said. “Lynn has done just a phenomenal
job producing a paper for our community.”
Lynn pointed out that except for the
very small staff, what makes the newspaper a success is all of the work
done by volunteers.
“It amazes me how this paper takes
shape every month with the help of so many people,” Lynn said. She
is optimistic about the changes afoot at MPM.
“I feel great about the support
coming from all the new board members and other volunteers,” Lynn
said. “Having Greg as our new leader with his background on the
board, I think he brings a lot of good experience.”
As the new executive director, Greg
said he is most excited about growth in circulation, the Internet, and
financial stability. He also emphasized the need for continued community
involvement.
“I think the community as a
whole needs to take ownership in the paper … by being part of it
as a volunteer, as a writer, as an advertiser,” Greg said.
Brian concurs, and encouraged readers to
respond to the survey distributed at Pride and included in the past two
issues of the paper.
“The more that we can get the
community involved with what it wants its paper to be, the more it will
succeed,” Brian said.
Brian acknowledges he is still concerned
about the financial stability of Mountain Pride Media, though a recent
challenge grant from the Samara Foundation of Vermont has things looking
up. Samara Foundation, with a mission to support and strengthen the GLBT
communities, promised to match up to $4,000 raised by Mountain Pride Media
prior to August 31. As of August 25, $4,143.40 had been contributed by
more than 45 individuals - better than $8,000 total with the Samara Foundation
matching grant.
Though board members acknowledge that
fundraising and increasing advertising revenue are important to the future
of Mountain Pride Media, Brian said he does not anticipate MPM changing
its advertising policy about tobacco and content that is sexually explicit.
“Currently we don’t feel
comfortable having content in the paper that we wouldn’t want our
5-year-old niece or nephew looking at,” Brian said. “We could
fill up that whole paper with bathhouse ads and sexually explicit ads,
but I think it really changes what our community paper really is.”
The board and OITM staff welcome new
volunteers. To get involved, call 802-861-6486, email mpm@mountainpridemedia.org
or stop in. We’re upstairs from R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center
on Elmwood Avenue in Burlington.
Kim Howard, MPM Board Secretary