A call to strengthen the LGBT community led Peter Holbrook, newly appointed president and CEO of the Cream City Foundation (CCF), to leave behind a successful career in higher education, most recently as dean of the College of Business and Management at Cardinal Stritch University. Now, through employing themes of empathy and inclusion, Holbrook hopes to deepen the bonds among members of a community facing rapid changes and division.
What is Cream City Foundation’s mission?
Cream City Foundation is a community-based foundation for LGBT people. Our mission is to mobilize philanthropic resources in the community to address the concerns, needs and wellbeing of LGBT people. Basically we bring together donors and nonprofits and we work to create change in our community by crafting and awarding grants that help improve our lived experience.
How has working in academia helped you at Cream City?
Some people say to this day that I was pretty brave and courageous to be an out individual in a Catholic higher education university. I didn’t see any other way. What I have seen in my journey as a gay man is how you can arrive fully at whatever you are doing. There, I couldn’t be my full self. What is interesting is that my time in higher education was almost always about service, access and opportunity. We believed education was a leveling agent. How do you provide opportunities to people at all points and not just to the privileged? Being president of CCF is all about creating access and opportunity for LGBT people in southeastern Wisconsin through inclusion, respect and human dignity. How can we work towards those goals by raising resources and helping to strengthen our community through the nonprofits that serve us?
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How does the Foundation address discord within the LGBT community?
We serve as a convening force, discussing how we can help certain aspects of the community. It is easy for us to serve gay and lesbian people because we understand those experiences. We have a hard time as a community understanding bisexual, transgender and queer individuals, and including those who do not identify over gender. The first thing we need to do is have conversations to build awareness so we see each other as individuals. The most surprising and rewarding thing about this job has been the ability it’s given me to spend time with people who have transitioned, to talk with them and truly see their courage. Once you learn about somebody’s story, it is hard not to want to work for them and support them. Conversation is the root; you can only change hearts through conversation.
CCF recently announced significant support for the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival, matching all gifts made to the event this year. Why is CCF such a strong advocate for the festival?
We’ve always been an institutional partner of the festival. They are here today because of the investments we’ve made. We wanted to make sure to continue that role so that cultural interchange remains healthy and flourishing. What I like about the LGBT Film Festival is that it fosters the ability to understand the various aspects of our community through the art of storytelling in video and film. Stories have such power to change opinions and help us see others as human.
Describe the Milwaukee LGBT community in three words.
Resilient. Resourceful. Proud.
