Local
Comings & Goings
Rosenberg lands fellowship promoting affordable housing
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected]. We also invite LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, landed an internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Jeremy Rosenberg who begins his appointment as an Excelsior Fellow Attorney with New York State Homes and Community Renewal working on preserving and creating affordable housing, homelessness prevention policies, and poverty reduction initiatives. It’s a two-year fellowship in the legal department of the agency where he will be working mainly on policy.
Rosenberg’s experience includes work as a pro-bono scholar and full-time Clinical Extern for JASA, legal services for the elderly in Queens, N.Y. He was a summer associate in the Education Law Group with Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles, LLP New York, a Legal and Legislative Fellow in the office of NYC Council member Benjamin J. Kallos, and worked as an outreach volunteer to the LGBT community for Hillary for America.
Rosenberg received his bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with a concentration in International Politics from the George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs in D.C. and his Juris Doctor from the CUNY School of Law, New York, where he was in the New York State Pro Bono Scholars program.
Congratulations also to Larry Gamache who has started a new company, Bluepenpartners.com. Gamache said, “I started Blue Pen Partners to help companies and organizations better define their strategy and provide the tactical communications support necessary to achieve business goals. All too often I have found really talented people, with amazing ideas, who are struggling to get the word out. They are often understandably so focused on making their vision become a reality they don’t have the time to tell their story. We offer them expert guidance with brand strategy development, public relations, marketing communications, employee branding and social media support.”
Gamache is a senior marketing professional with more than 20 years’ experience leading communications and brand positioning for national corporate, non-profit and government organizations. Strong bias-to-action coupled with a dedication to data-driven decision making has led to his track record of creative problem solving and proven business results.
For the past nearly 15 years, Gamache successfully managed media relations and developed corporate messaging efforts at CARFAX. Prior to that he worked for a number of companies as an account manager and supervisor including Medialink/US Newswire, Ketchum Public Relations, and Porter Novelli. Gamache began his career working at Whitman-Walker Clinic helping bring the organization’s lifesaving message and services to young men throughout the region. He earned his bachelor’s in education from George Mason University.
From left, Jeremy Rosenberg and Larry Gamache (Photos courtesy of the subjects)
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
Minimal version of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ heading to Dupont Underground
Comings & Goings
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Tenn. lawmakers pass transgender “watch list” bill
