Ethos CEO Dale Mitchell has been selected to be the Grand Marshal of the 2019 Boston Pride Parade. Mr. Mitchell was selected among a cohort of members of the LGBT community, for his tireless work on the issue of LGBT Aging.
While at Ethos, Mr. Mitchell has been a leading champion and advocate for LGBT older adults and caregivers. Dale Mitchell is the founder of the LGBT Aging Project. As an out (spoken) gay man Dale brought LGBT Aging out of the closet with his tireless work here in Massachusetts. He convened Boston’s very first LGBT Aging Summit in 2001 and the LGBT Aging Project followed soon thereafter with Dale as its Chair. In 2004, under his direction, Ethos started the community meal program for LGBT older adults and their friends, a first in the nation. These programs have paved the way for a network of 23 such sites throughout Massachusetts and many others around the country.
Dale was the driving force behind the 2008 MassHealth Equality Law that ensured that marriage equality applied to the state’s Medicaid program. He is a founding member of the MA LGBT Aging Commission, advocating with legislators to create the Commission. More recently he brought that same passionate advocacy to the passage of another, first in the nation legislation, requiring LGBT cultural competency training, for of all those who work within Massachusetts’ state network of elder care providers.
“Because of Dale’s vision, today’s LGBT older adults – and those who follow in their footsteps — are able to thrive socially and with the necessary supports and providers that are culturally competent and LGBT inclusive,” said Lisa Krinsky, director of the LGBT Aging Project, a program of the Fenway Institute.
Mr. Mitchell has been CEO of Ethos, then Southwest Boston Senior Services, since 1993. Under his leadership, Ethos has grown from a local non-profit, serving primarily southwest Boston, to an agency that employs more than 150 people, has an annual budget of more than $37 million, utilizes over 500 volunteers, and serves both the elderly and disabled throughout the Greater Boston-area. He also engineered the first interagency elder service collaboration in MA, the Eldercare Alliance, fostering regional approaches around information/ referral, protective services, family caregiver support and, most recently, elder nutrition.
Prior to Ethos, Dale Mitchell was Asst. Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, a public interest lobbyist, a low-income policy analyst and a community organizer. He received his MSW from Boston College in 1978. He has lived in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston since 1975 and is married to his longtime partner David Imming.
This year’s Boston Pride Festival theme “Looking Back … Loving Forward” represents the recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and is meant to encourage the community to reflect back on the many challenges and incredible victories of the LGBTQ+ community. The 2019 Pride Week kicks off with the annual Flag Raising at City Hall Plaza on Friday, May 31, with the Parade and Festival to follow on Saturday, June 8.
Ethos is a private, nonprofit organization that assists the elderly and disabled to live at home. We serve over 3,000 individuals and families, primarily in the Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Hyde Park and Mattapan. Ethos offers a wide range of high-quality, discounted services and support, delivered at home and in the community. For more information, please visit www.ethocare.org.