Rainbow Health, a Minneapolis nonprofit that advocated for LGBTQ patients across the state, abruptly shut down Thursday citing financial trouble that leaders described as insurmountable.
Rainbow Health abruptly shuts down services in Minneapolis
The union representing about 60 workers says staff were given no advance notice about closure at nonprofit that advocated for LGBTQ patients.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 19, 2024 at 6:59PM
About 80 people worked at Rainbow Health. The union representing about 60 of those workers said staff received an email Thursday morning about an emergency meeting two hours later where the end of operations was announced.
Rainbow Health offered wrap-around social and health services for patients with HIV as well as specialized mental and chemical health services for the LGBTQ community.
The group’s CEO had resigned just a few days earlier, the union said, following a vote of no confidence by workers.
“With a heavy heart, we announce the closure of Rainbow Health,” the organization said in a message posted on Facebook. “Due to insurmountable financial challenges, we can no longer sustain our operations.”
The nonprofit said it was working with local organizations to help patients and clients find continuing care.
SEIU Healthcare MN & IA said in a news release: “Workers asked questions about what will happen to their tens of thousands of clients, many of whom have relied on Rainbow Health for essential services, with the organization dissolved. No answers to these and other basic questions Rainbow Health employees asked were provided by the board.”
Rainbow Health was created about seven years ago following the merger of Rainbow Health Initiative, which was founded in 2001, and Minnesota AIDS Project, which dates back to 1983.
An IRS filing shows the nonprofit had revenue of nearly $14 million in 2022. That year, revenue exceeded expenses by nearly $2 million.
The group has championed issues ranging from transgender health care access and smoking cessation to concerns about a proposed merger between the Fairview and Sanford health systems. Earlier this year, Rainbow Health sponsored an event at Como Park to celebrate its clients and community living with HIV.
The Rainbow Health shutdown comes despite union contract language requiring 30 days advance notice of a layoff, SEIU said.
A group called Rainbow Health Workers Coordinating Committee, which represents unionized staff at the clinic, said in the news release: “We are shocked, saddened and angered by this news, both as staff dedicated to Rainbow Health’s mission and even more so for our clients and community. We are left with many huge questions: How could this massive decision come with no warning?”
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