Foundation's $1M Donation to Openhouse Will Name Offices After Bob Ross

Openhouse will name its new offices in San Francisco's first LGBT senior housing development after Bob Ross, the founding publisher of the Bay Area Reporter.

The Bob Ross Foundation and Openhouse will make the announcement Thursday, January 21. In securing the naming rights, the foundation has committed $1 million over five years to the agency to help it build out its new programmatic spaces and expand the services it offers to LGBT seniors.

The agency's new community facilities will be named the Bob Ross LGBT Senior Center. The first 2,700 square feet of space, to be located at 65 Laguna Street, will open this fall in the ground floor of Richardson Hall, formerly a part of the UC Berkeley Extension site at the corner of Laguna and Hermann streets.

"Bob Ross is a pioneer of this community that really helped transform it into an LGBT community that takes care of itself and takes care of each other," said Openhouse Executive Director Seth Kilbourn. "I think that is what Openhouse is about and we are proud of honoring that legacy of bringing the community together."

Providing senior housing and services to LGBT people was always something Ross felt was needed, said Thomas E. Horn, president and trustee of the Bob Ross Foundation.

"Bob at one time had a vision of creating an LGBT retirement center with low-income housing up in the Russian River in Guerneville," recalled Horn, who was named the executor of Ross' estate upon his death in 2003. "He had gone as far as purchased property with cabins on it to have low income housing for LGBT seniors in Guerneville. It ended up falling through because of all the permits and bureaucratic hurdles."

Ross, who lived a few blocks away from the 55 Laguna site, and Paul Bentley launched the B.A.R. in 1971, with Ross becoming the full owner of the paper about a decade later. He was a founding member of the Tavern Guild, a coalition of gay bar owners, founded Gay Comix, and was active socially and politically throughout his life.

He established the foundation in 1996 to give to a broad portfolio of nonprofits. Up until the gift to Openhouse, Horn said the $5 million awarded by the foundation over the last 12 years has gone to help various agencies cover their operating expenses.

More recently, Horn, who served as publisher of the B.A.R. following Ross' death until 2013, had sought a way to more publicly honor Ross.

"For some years I have been thinking, when the right opportunity comes along, what would be an appropriate legacy gift, something more permanent and that would carry on Bob's legacy," said Horn.

New Generation

After the LGBT senior housing project broke ground last spring, Horn began exploring a way for the foundation to make a sizeable donation to it. It is a reflection of how the LGBT community's needs have evolved, he said, to where one of the biggest unmet needs today are services for LGBT seniors.

"For most of my adult lifetime it has been the AIDS epidemic. Most of my generation and Bob's generation, we didn't live long enough to need senior services," said Horn. "Now we have a whole new generation of older LGBTs who are living with HIV and are going to have the same problem of aging that everybody else has."

Mercy Housing, an affordable housing developer, and Openhouse are redeveloping the building at 55 Laguna into the first half of a 110-unit development of below-market-rate housing aimed at LGBT seniors. The first 40 units are now under construction and set to be completed by late August or early September.

Although anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, is eligible to apply to live in the building, Openhouse has been working to ensure a large percentage of applicants are LGBT seniors. The lottery for the Richardson Hall residences is expected to open in late April or early May with the residents selected by early June.

Openhouse's offices inside Richardson Hall will house its staff as well as be the location where it provides case management and information and referral services. The public entrance off Laguna Street will include signage noting the space is named after Ross.

The development's second building, to be constructed on the parking lot next door, will include an additional 7,000 square feet of space for the senior center. There will be a ground floor lobby area with drop-in lounge as well as an art room and exercise area for yoga classes and other physical activity programs.

On the second floor will be a large open space where Openhouse can host social events and activities. It will also be dividable into smaller classrooms or resource rooms.

The senior center's two spaces will not be connected but accessed separately by the public from the sidewalk and by residents from interior entrances. The larger event space, slated to open in 2018 with an address of 75 Laguna Street, will include an interior plaque honoring Ross.

"One reason it is really exciting to be moving over there is we will have more space for staff, more space for volunteer training, and more space for service delivery," said Kilbourn. "We will have private space to meet with clients. We will be able to offer even more when the new building is built out."

The Bob Ross Foundation gift equates to $200,000 annually for five years for Openhouse. The money will likely be used to cover the cost of building out and furnishing the agency's new offices as well as for direct client services.

"It is an unrestricted gift, which is really wonderful. It allows us flexibility to use the funds as we need them for the priorities of that particular year," said Kilbourn.

In a statement, Openhouse board President Bill Scherer noted that with San Francisco an increasingly expensive city for nonprofits to operate in, the Bob Ross LGBT Senior Center will be "a permanent home" for the agency and "a sustainable community resource" for LGBT seniors, their caregivers, family and friends.

"This deeply generous gift significantly strengthens our capacity to deliver on our core vision to ensure every LGBT senior has access to safe and stable housing, care providers that understand their lives and opportunities to stay engaged in their community," stated Scherer. "We're proud to share and continue Bob Ross' legacy, while adding critical momentum to our work and breaking new ground for LGBT philanthropy in the Bay Area."

The naming rights for the residential areas of the two buildings have yet to be secured. Kilbourn said Openhouse is not actively pursuing those fundraising opportunities at this time but would welcome potential offers.

"If someone wanted to talk to us about the naming of the residential spaces, Mercy is open to talking to us about what that may look like," he said.