The North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce works to improve the business climate for its members
Tony Vedda
DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Pride Guide Dedication
The 2012 Pride Guide was dedicated to the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce in recognition of the chamber’s work to advance equality and make things better for the community. And chamber President and CEO Tony Vedda said this week that the chamber has planned an even busier year ahead.
In October, the Out & Equal conference comes to Dallas. The chamber was instrumental in bringing that convention to the city, the largest LGBT group that Dallas has ever hosted.
Vedda said he hopes that more LGBT groups — both large and small — continue choosing Dallas for their meetings. He said he’d like to see Creating Change return and for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund hold candidate training classes here. The next GALA choruses festival will be in Denver but Vedda’s hoping Dallas will snag the one after that.
Vedda said that a variety of smaller groups that have never been to Dallas hold annual conventions, specifically mentioning the Gay and
Lesbian Medical Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association as groups he’d like to see come to Dallas for their annual conventions.
And, of course, he hopes the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber will schedule an annual meeting in Dallas sometime in the next few years.
Vedda said that Dallas has an advantage in bringing groups to the city because of the good working relationship the chamber and the LGBT community in general have with the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau and with other city institutions.
“We have the same goal as any chamber,” Vedda said. “We help our members become bigger and more profitable. That helps us do good work in the community.”
He said that when an LGBT businessperson tells him that they don’t need the chamber, he tells them that the chamber needs them. A strong LGBT business community helps provide good role models and supports the vast array of non-profit organizations as well as chamber projects, he said, adding that in many ways, the chamber is a big, professional “It Gets Better” organization.
The organization’s newest project is its LEAP scholarships.
“We love our acronyms,” Vedda said, “And LEAP stands for Leadership, Education, Advocacy Program.”
Students who self-identify as LGBT, members of LGBT families or allies who advocate for the LGBT community are eligible. The first scholarships will be awarded in December for the spring semester. Applications will be accepted through Oct. 15 and are available online at GLBTLEAP.org.
Winners will be announced Dec. 8 at the Holly Jolly Ball, which is also the chamber’s major fundraising event for LEAP. Tickets will be $75, with silent and live auctions raising money for scholarships and other LEAP projects.
Vedda said he expects applications for the 2012-13 school year to be available online soon after the first awards are made.
LEAP is also planning an LGBT leadership institute. Former participants in Leadership Lambda have been advising the chamber on what worked in the past. Vedda said he wants participants to leave with a good understanding of LBGT history and accomplishments.
“The goal is to develop more ‘best and brightest’ for the non-profit sector of our community,” he said.
Those who go on to attend Leadership programs in Plano, Dallas or Fort Worth will be better representatives of the LGBT community, he said.
Working with the National GLBT Chamber, the North Texas chamber is offering a designation of LGBT-certified supplier, Vedda said.
“We’re working to make sure opportunities are given to our community like other minority groups,” he said.
The chamber holds two monthly general networking programs and maintains three closed networking groups.
“Those groups have closed millions of dollars in new business for members,” Vedda said.
Several fun events are coming up as well.
A Cedar Springs Road progressive mixer will be structured like a progressive dinner. The evening starts at Tan Bar on one end of the block and works its way up the street, stopping at several chamber members before ending at Axiom Sushi.
The annual chamber dinner will be held in March. A community marketing conference will be held that month as well.
Vedda said he hopes each of these events and everything the chamber does helps Dallas’ LGBT businesses grow and prosper. He said a strong LGBT business community supports equality and the non-profit groups throughout the community that make it get better for everyone.
For more information, go online to GLBTChamber.org.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 16, 2011.
