The Harriet Hancock Center for the LGBT Community of South Carolina
THEN NOW
The origins of the community center began with the idea
discussed at the annual meeting in
September
1992
to open an office for the South
Carolina Gay & Lesbian Pride Movement (or GLPM as SC Pride
was
known then)
. It was unanimously voted to proceed with fundraising to open an office/community
center.
Individuals and businesses began to commit as monthly center pledges until Pride in April 1993.
Matt Tischler's speech at SC Pride 1993 centered on the fact that the community really needed a place
that it could call home. Dozens more people signed up as monthly center pledges at Pride and Harriet
Hancock was instrumental in helping sign up pledges.
By the end of July 1993, GLPM has saved enough money to began looking for rental space.
The organizers signed a one-year lease on a space in a small shopping center at the corner of
Rosewood Drive and South Shandon Street in Columbia and moved in just in time for the September
1993 GLPM Annual Meeting, exactly a year after the goal was announced. The space consisted of a large
meeting room, 2 small offices and a makeshift kitchen with a grill out back for cookouts. The original
community center was small, but it was frequently used and GLPM outgrew the space almost immediately.
Approximately 10 months after GLPM opened the original center, a member of our board noticed
the
current community center building for sale at 1108 Woodrow Street. Several members of the GLPM
Board took a tour of the building and had a vision that it would make a good space for a larger center,
which is now known as the Harriet Hancock Center for the LGBT Community of South Carolina. After
some discussion about the organization's ability to afford the purchase, the majority of the Board
decided to move forward with development and the property at 1108 Woodrow Street was purchased for
$48,500 in August, 1994.
Even before closing on the property, GLPM began raising money to renovate the building and
gather
a small $500 down payment. A generous member of the community, Mr. Gary Price, assisted
GLPM by providing the financing in the form of a 10-year mortgage on the property. The mortgage was
paid several years ahead of schedule and the South Carolina Pride Movement (aka GLPM) now owns
the community center, debt free. The board of SC Pride is in the process of transfering ownership of the
center to the Harriet Hancock Center Foundation which will eventually hold the deed for the Center.