{"value"=>"<p>This series contains information about the structure and development of the board throughout the years, and provides an overview of the organization. There are six subseries: By-laws and amendments; agenda and meeting materials; elections; committees; Managing/Executive Director Colin Robinson; and early members. The By-laws and Amendments subseries is composed of various versions of GMAD's by-laws, some of which have annotations by Colin Robinson. Also included are notes by Bert Hunter (1989) about the proposed structure and by-laws of the organization, along with a memorandum from the board to the membership concerning a revision of the by-laws.</p> <p>The Agendas and Meeting Materials subseries consists mainly of agendas and various addendum/attachments from past meetings and memorandum and reports from committees about elections, employment, events, financial information, staff hiring, and membership.</p> <p>In the subseries Elections, the files contain ballots, candidate information, and membership lists. Minutes from monthly and special board meetings, which relate specifically to elections, are arranged chronologically. This series is restricted because it contains personal information on GMAD's membership.</p> <p>The Committees subseries contains information about two board-appointed committees: the HIV Program Initiative and Strategic Planning. These files contain agendas, flyers, job announcements, letters, reports, questionnaires, sign-up sheets, and notes related to each committee's objectives.</p> <p>The Managing/Executive Director Colin Robinson (1994-1995) subseries contains files generated by Colin Robinson, who held both titles at different times. Correspondence, memorandum, board minutes and related notes, vision statements, recommendations to the board, reports, and drafts of employment agreements can be found in these files. Notably there is a letter (August 4, 1995) from Robinson to the board that details his reasons for leaving his position as executive director, and lays out a history of his tenure with the organization as the managing director. Much of the material concerns the role of the board, formalizing the managing director and program assistant's position, information pertaining to a board retreat in 1994 that focused on the strategic plan to strengthen the board and organizational development. The records do not contain discrete bodies of files for most of the past executive directors or managing directors, including founder Charles Angel, Harold Robinson, Elbert Gates, Joe Pressley, Lawrence Abrams, Cary Alan Johnson, Robert Penn, or Kevin McGruder.</p> <p>In the Early Members subseries, there are files for Colin Robinson and C. Ralph Wilson, both of whom served the organization in various capacities. Robinson, 1989 - 1993, along with Rev. Angel, co-chaired the first meetings of GMAD. This series is essentially a sampling of Robinson's records.</p> <p>From its inception, Robinson served the organization in various capacities as a board member, \"Calendar/Newsletter\" editor, managing director, and executive director before resigning in 1995. Arranged chronologically, these files include (often heavily annotated) board agendas and minutes, membership applications, newsletter working materials, program questionnaires, and a copy of the proposal to the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, which funded the AIDSFILMS/GMAD collaborative HIV/AIDS awareness educational video, <span class=\"title\">Party</span>. (For more detailed information about the <span class=\"title\">Party</span> video, see Program series description below). Materials found here include flyers and newsletters from the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center and Gay Men's Health Crisis, another organization for which Robinson volunteered and worked. There are also letters Robinson penned in his capacity as a board member of the New York-based black gay writing collective, Other Countries.</p> <p>The files for C. Ralph Wilson, 1995 - 1996, a former board member, are comprised of two folders of documents that were kept during his tenure as board secretary. The files include budgets for programs, correspondence, a listing of the board of directors, memoranda, minutes, organizational plans, reports, and notes. Some of the materials have annotations. Also included is a memorandum concerning Colin Robinson's lawsuit against GMAD for back pay in 1996.</p> <p>Smaller categories in this series include biographies and resumes of former board members, contribution agreements, correspondence, executive committee reports, executive director search information, financial committee reports, lists of board members, memoranda, pledges of confidentiality forms, strategic reports, and other related reports.</p>"}