Positive Resource Center Head Takes a Break

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Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- The executive director of Positive Resource Center, the San Francisco nonprofit that provides comprehensive benefits counseling and employment services to people who are living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS, is taking a three-month break but says he'll be back.

The announcement this week from Brett Andrews, 50, who's starting a paid sabbatical April 1, follows the recent departure of two other San Francisco nonprofit heads who left their jobs after taking similar leaves.

Transgender Law Center Executive Director Masen Davis left that nonprofit earlier this year. Last summer, Carolyn Laub quit the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. Both Davis and Laub have been replaced.

Andrews, who's gay, insists he'll return to PRC, which he's led for 12 years.

"I am not thinking about leaving Positive Resource Center," he said. "It truly is the intention that I take a break that the board and I both feel I well deserve, and I'm looking forward to coming back."

While Andrews is away, Joe Tuohy, PRC's managing director of development, will have the "day-to-day decision making authority," according to Andrews. The senior management team will support Tuohy.

Andrews said during his sabbatical, which ends June 30, he will travel, rest, and write. There are no educational or professional development requirements, he said.

He plans to "reflect on my life and my body of work," he said. "That will have me prepared to come back and do more of it."

The break comes as the nonprofit has completed a strategic plan that includes giving staff opportunities for sabbaticals. It also includes discussion of the agency buying its own building and other topics.

"We're using it as a retention strategy," said Andrews. "The board is pleased with my work" and feels that "rest and rejuvenation would keep me here at the agency longer, and I agree."

His travel plans include Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Palm Springs, California; and the East Coast.

Board President Kent Roger said, "The board has been trying to get him to take [a sabbatical] for the past number of years but it was just never the right time."

Roger, who's led the group's board for five years, is stepping down next week. Gay attorney and San Francisco Police Commissioner Julius Turman is set to replace him. Turman didn't respond to a request for comment.

In an email, Tuohy said, "I think Brett's sabbatical can have nothing but a positive impact on PRC. With a solid management team in place to steer the ship in his absence, the organization is poised to benefit from renewed energy and enthusiasm upon his return."

Tuohy, who's 49 and gay, has been with the nonprofit for six months.

The group's 2013 tax filing lists Andrews' "reportable compensation from the organization" as $144,268. "Estimated amount of other compensation" from the nonprofit "and related organizations" was $17,586.

The agency's budget is $3.2 million. There are 32 paid staff, and the nonprofit serves about 2,200 unduplicated clients a year.

Agency's plans

Like many nonprofits, PRC has faced rising rents.

The strategic plan for 2015 to 2017, which was adopted at the board's retreat in January, includes the desire to raise money and purchase a building to ensure the stability of PRC's "occupancy and finances" by December 2016.

The nonprofit's current office is at 785 Market Street. Andrews wouldn't say what PRC's rent is, but the group's tax filing for 2013 lists occupancy expenses as $376,537.

In an email, Andrews said, "Our rent went up 25 percent, starting next month, and we were only offered a two-year lease."

The nonprofit "to date" has "been gifted with a seven-figure bequest" from a trust, he said.

"These funds have allowed us to think more broadly about our occupancy, including having exploratory conversations about the purchase of a building," said Andrews, who indicated he didn't know how much buying a building would cost.

"We are in the preliminary assessment phase of identifying our space needs," he said. "We will know more about that, when/if we do a feasibility study, potentially as soon as mid-2015."

The strategic plan also says that by 2017, the agency will "explore opportunities to support populations in need" and "continue to expand services beyond HIV/AIDS."

Among other projects, PRC is involved in developing a pilot project "to increase the employment of workers with disabilities in California, including workers with mental health issues," according to information Andrews provided.