Dozens face layoffs as San Diego LGBT Community Center braces for funding cuts

The San Diego LGBT Community Center — the decades-old nonprofit that provides year-round support for tens of thousands of San Diegans in the form of health care, community programs and much more — is preparing to lay off perhaps dozens of staff as it braces for federal funding cuts.

In a notice filed July 3, the Center warned all 106 of its employees they could be laid off as soon as Sept. 6.

The Center says the notice was filed preemptively, in case it loses federal grant money, and there is no date set for layoffs. State and federal law requires the organization to notify staff at least 60 days before expected mass layoffs.

As of this week, its federal funding had not been cut, but The Center says it’s only a matter of time.

“It’s very precarious right now with the federal funding,” spokesperson Gus Hernandez said this week. “We’re not putting on rose-colored glasses … We think it will happen to us.”

The Center provides a range of services to the local LGBTQ+ community, including HIV prevention and screenings, mental health and physical wellness resources and specific programming for women, trans people and the Latinx community.

Roughly $4.4 million of the Center’s current $15.5 million budget comes from federal grants, Hernandez says.

Most of the federal funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its sub-agencies — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — but some also flows through Department of Housing and Urban Development programs.

Several programs at The Center benefit from that federal funding, including its sexual health and wellness program, crisis services, behavioral health services and housing services.

Not all employees’ work at The Center is federally funded. Hernandez said the nonprofit noticed layoffs for its entire staff “out of an abundance of caution and in the spirit of transparency.”

The Center’s 106 employees include 18 in youth services and 13 in behavioral health, according to the WARN notice. Seven employees work under The Center’s sexual health and wellness services, another seven in its housing services and five for crisis services. Some departments, like Latinx services, have only one employee.

“Many staff members, even if not directly funded by federal grants, support federally funded programs or are part of shared infrastructure,” Hernandez said in an email.

Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has moved to slash federal funding to organizations nationwide, especially those working on initiatives that focus on underserved and marginalized communities. It’s also deeply cut the agencies funding much of the Center’s work, cutting staff and offices at the CDC and slashing SAMHSA by as much as half.

Hernandez says the Center is pursuing alternative funding options to try to avoid layoffs, including looking at fundraising through individual gifts and corporate and foundation grants.

But that might not help its staff. San Diego employment lawyer Josh Gruenberg says that in his experience, companies only issue a WARN notice when “it is certain” layoffs are coming.

“Oftentimes, if employees are told that their job will be coming to an end, then they begin looking for a replacement job as soon as possible,” Gruenberg said. “Companies don’t want to lose people if they don’t have to, and they don’t want to spook people generally, if there’s no need.”

He sees the Center’s move as a favor to employees to let them know what’s coming.

The Center held two meetings with staff to alert them to upcoming layoffs before issuing the WARN notice, Hernandez says. He said staff are nervous and upset — but he personally isn’t yet planning what to do if he loses his job.

Any serious hit to the Center’s funding or staff could significantly hamper its operations and programming — which many community members rely on heavily.

Jolene Sebastian has frequented many of the nonprofit’s events and services for around two decades, regularly driving all the way from her home in Vista to the Center in Hillcrest.

“Everything’s gotten better — the services have gotten better, the people,” she said Wednesday afternoon, as she participated in the Ageless Art group for seniors. “I feel more comfortable here.”

After years of drawing birds with crayons as a child, and expressing herself artistically as a clown named Justa Clown through her own clowning company, Sebastian has focused on watercolor as a means of healing.

Painting with the close-knit group each Wednesday is a form of therapy for her, and every year she gives a piece to the annual Ageless Artists Art Show & Fair, where members’ works are sold in a raffle to support to the Center.

“We donate our art because they give us the space for free,” Sebastian said. “It’s how we give back.”

The Center’s programming and staff have grown significantly in recent years. Its annual budgets have risen over roughly the last decade, from under $5 million in 2015 to more than $15 million today, and it’s added dozens of employees to the 63 it had 10 years ago.

The growth over the last decade has also come with additional scrutiny of its financial operations and recordkeeping in the form of audits required of some larger nonprofits.

The nonprofit’s tax filings have been audited every year since 2011, and from 2021 to 2023, the audits found repeated deficiencies in The Center’s financial reporting. The Center’s most recent audit, for the fiscal year ending June 2024, came back without any concerns.

The Center did not immediately respond to questions about why it took so long to correct the deficiencies, but Hernandez blamed the problems on rapid and unexpected growth at the Center.

“We’ve been growing a little bit faster than we anticipated,” he said. “Every year, we’ve just been growing and growing and adding programs and adding services. And I think in that growth process … we weren’t keeping up our accounting to match that growth.”