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Comings & Goings
Garcia Blum elected student body president at Harvard Kennedy School
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].
Congratulations to Adam Ouanes on joining the Juniper Center in Chicago. The Juniper Center offers psychotherapy and group therapy for adults, couples, families, and children and has a wide range of therapists with specific focuses.
Upon joining the group Ouanes said, “My approach to therapy is through a relational lens and is influenced by a myriad of perspectives including, but not limited to, Psychodynamic Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and mindfulness-based skills.”
He has acquired a great deal of experience and passion for working with LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as those who struggle with addiction. He has a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ people who struggle with substance use. Ouanes also has experience and interest in working with emerging adults, and in grief work. He previously worked for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as a Transplant Social Work Intern and with The William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia as a Peer Counselor.
Congratulations also to Diego Garcia Blum on his election as StudentBodyPresident at the Harvard Kennedy School. Upon his election he said,“I couldn’t be more honored. As an immigrant, a Latinx person, and an LGBTQ+ individual, this journey has not been easy. Coming close to becoming undocumented several times, I finally obtained a Green Card after working as a nuclear engineer for six years. I came to the Kennedy School with the freedom of my immigration situation behind me, ready to live my values, and challenging myself to lead the student body is part of that journey. “
He added, “I was driven to public service because I want to fight for the safety and acceptance of LGBTQ people living in places where they are unsafe. It is a calling born out of my own story of overcoming oppression as a gay man and witnessing the heartbreaking assault on LGBTQ people in repressive areas of the world. Throughout my work travels, I met dozens of LGBTQ people still trapped in the same suffering I lived through when I was in the closet. As an immigrant lucky enough to have come out of the closet in the United States, I saw myself in all of the people I met; their crushing pain was too familiar.”
Garcia Blum worked for TN Americas in Columbia, Md., as a nuclear engineer and MATRIX Project Lead Engineer; and for TN International in Paris as a performance manager. He is a member of the National Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign and a Harvard Kennedy School U.S. Latino Leadership Fellow.
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
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