A planned Feb. 24 report assessing YouthPride's viability as it moves into the future was not finished because documents were not made available from the organization's leadership to volunteer task force members as promised, according to a statement released today.

A community forum on the viability of YouthPride is set for Tuesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at St. Mark United Methodist Church. YouthPride, founded in 1995, serves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth ages 13-24 in metro Atlanta.

In December, the agency's executive director, Terence McPhaul, made a public plea to raise $40,000 or it would be forced to close in 60 days. That money has not been raised, but the agency continues to operate despite questions about whether it is a legal entity because it has no formal board of directors and only an executive director who is operating the agency.

Inman Park United Methodist Church recently filed suit against YouthPride for not paying rent since June 2011 and has ordered the agency vacate the premises.

The statement from gay teacher Charlie Stadtlander and a member of the YouthPride Viability and Assessment Task Force reads:

The YouthPride Viability and Assessment Task Force report due on Feb. 24, 2012, was delayed due to a failure of YouthPride leadership to adhere to their previously agreed cooperation with the Task Force. After several follow-up requests to the YouthPride executive director and president of the board for production of the outstanding documents as so stated from the second request made on Feb 8, 2012, the Viability Task Force has received no additional documents or cooperation. The task force urges the YouthPride executive director and president of the board to produce such documents as soon as possible, many of which are public documents that must be produced to any member of the community upon request.
 
In light of the current developments detailing the pending, imminent eviction of YouthPride and the ordered "cease operations request" made by the president of the board effective Feb. 17, 2012, producing the most recent bank statements and checkbook are critical to the assessment and viability of YouthPride and with the pending eviction, securing YP documents and securing YP assets is critically necessary to ensure said documents and assets are safeguarded on behalf of YP by an independent party.

We continue to urge the executive director and/or other members of YouthPride leadership to cooperate with the LGBT community by producing all public documents and those documents previously agreed to be disclosed. Additionally, the leadership of YouthPride must ensure that all youth client files are secure according to all local, state, and federal laws.