San Diego Pride has established a paid internship for high school students in their senior year. The internship, located at the San Diego Pride office in Hillcrest, will be the primary organizer of San Diego Pride’s youth-related activities.

Students are expected to commit five to 10 hours per week to their internship during the fall and as many as 30 hours per week in the late spring and early summer.

The intern will be active in many areas of outreach to youth in the community, including assisting with organization and planning of the Youth Pride event and collaborating with San Diego area queer youth agencies to encourage youth-contingent participation in the annual San Diego Pride parade.

Pride’s commitment to fund the internship means the voice of San Diego’s youth will have a direct role in the planning and organization of the Youth Xpress and Youth Zone at the San Diego Pride festival. Outreach to youth-oriented businesses and organizations to encourage their participation in San Diego Pride youth events and activities will also be an important responsibility of the intern.

For more information or to apply for the internship, visit www.sandiegopride.org or call (619) 297-7683.

The next Community Coalition Breakfast will feature San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne and openly lesbian San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman.

The two chiefs will discuss public safety in the city of San Diego and their respective departments’ relationship with the GLBT community.

The breakfast will take place on Jan. 19 from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. at The Center, located at 3909 Centre Street.

A full breakfast is provided for a $10 donation. ASL interpretation will be provided upon request, but requests must be sent at least seven working days before the event.

For this and other information, contact Sean Wherley at (619) 692-2077 ext. 212 or e-mail swherley@thecentersd.org.

San Diego Men’s Chorus will hold open rehearsals on Monday, Jan. 8, 15 and 22, for prospective and returning members.

Rehearsals will take place at All Saints Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Sixth and Pennsylvania avenues in Hillcrest. Rehearsals begin a 7:00 p.m., but prospective members are urged to come early to meet the chorus’s artistic staff and membership representatives.

The chorus’s 2007 season includes a Valentine’s Cabaret starring multi-network star comedian ANT; its spring concert, Songs for the Soul; a joint concert with the San Diego Chorus titled Sing for the Cure, which is a benefit for San Diego’s Susan G. Komen Foundation; and the annual Pride concert in July.

Preparations for the Chorus’s holiday concert in December and its performing tour to Miami, Fla., in July 2008 are also in the works.

The chorus is looking for men who enjoy making music, meeting new people, singing for social change and performing the highest quality music in SDMC’s new home, the Birch North Park Theatre, as well as in other impressive venues throughout San Diego.

Members need not be experienced singers or music readers. Members simply must be able to match pitch and learn music quickly through rehearsals and the use of rehearsal tracks. Members must make a weekly time commitment and agree to a few additional rehearsals on weekends, as well as a full weekend retreat in the spring and fall.

As of 2007, membership dues are no longer required to sing with SDMC.

More information about chorus membership, as well as a membership application, is available online at www.sdmc.org, by e-mail at mem_services@sdmc.org, by calling (619) 296-SONG or by coming to the open rehearsals on Jan. 8, 15 and 22.

Lambda Letters Project and Hot Monkey Love Café will present a special benefit concert and buffet dinner for the Lambda Letters Project on Jan. 25 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The event will feature District 3 City Councilmember Toni Atkins as a special guest speaker, and the Bass Clef Experiment will provide live music.

Lambda Letters Project is a nonprofit corporation serving economically disadvantaged people, individuals living with HIV/AIDS, people of color, women, and GLBT and intersex individuals and families.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Hot Monkey Love Café is located at 6875 El Cajon Blvd.

For more information about the benefit, call (619) 469-4113. For more information about Lambda Letters Project, call (619) 582-5383 or visit the Web site www.lambdaletters.org.

The La Jolla Festival of the Arts is now accepting artist applications for the 2007 festival.

Now in its 21st year, the festival is one of the top-rated art shows in California and hosts more than 190 award-winning artists from around the country.

Produced annually by the Torrey Pines Kiwanis Foundation, the festival’s mission is to provide the highest quality of arts and entertainment experience for its patrons, guests and participants in support of recreational and educational programs for San Diegans with disabilities.

The festival returns this year to the UCSD East Campus parking lots, located at Genesee Avenue and Regents Road. Admission to the festival is $10 for adults and free for children 10 and under. Parking will be provided free of charge to all attendees.

Proceeds from La Jolla Festival of the Arts will benefit more than 30 programs for San Diegans with disabilities, including the Adaptive Snow Ski Program, Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp, Wheelchair Tennis, Quadriplegic Rugby, Helen Woodward Therapeutic Riding Program, Canine Companions and Sharp Hospital Rehabilitation Center.

With the support of these proceeds, which have totaled more than $1 million during the last 20 years, the beneficiaries continue their efforts to provide adaptive sports and recreation programs that bring the enjoyment of sports to children and adults with disabilities, helping to build self-esteem.

Artists interested in participating in the festival, which will take place June 23-24, should visit www.lajollaartfestival.org for a complete application and guidelines.

For general information about the 2007 La Jolla Festival of the Arts, contact Susan Liggett at (858) 586-1202 or e-mail susan@spearhall.com. Additional information can be found on the Web site www.lajollaartfestival.org. Media and exhibitor information can be obtained through SpearHall Advertising & PR at (858) 586-1202.

The Center’s Women’s Coming Out Group meets every Wednesday from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. at The Center, located at 3909 Centre St.

This group supports women in all stages of the self-discovery and coming out process. The group, which is free of charge, is a confidential place to develop supportive friendships and discuss issues involved in coming out and being out. Heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning women are welcome.

This group is led by volunteer co-facilitators (non-therapists) who are “graduates” of the group.

For more information, contact Lea Burgess-Carland at (619) 692-2077 ext. 111 or e-mail her at lburgess-carland@thecentersd.org.

San Diego Pride is encouraging businesses to consider becoming a part of San Diego’s largest and most colorful civic event, the 33rd San Diego LGBT Pride celebration.

Event sponsorships provide employers a way to invest in their stated values while benefiting from community recognition. The San Diego Pride celebration provides an opportunity for businesses to reinforce their brand, in a significant media market, to an extremely “brand loyal” community that recognizes the importance of supporting companies that support the gay and lesbian community.

Companies interested in a San Diego Pride sponsorship should visit www.sandiegopride.org or call (619) 297-7683.

A Hillcrest Neighborhood Watch meeting will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 9, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Joyce Beers Community Center to discuss the increasing homeless population in Hillcrest and the surrounding areas.

Paige Hazard from the City Attorney’s Office will be in attendance along with Sgt. Rich Schnell to help inform residents about how to remedy the transient population.

The Joyce Beers Community Center is located at 1220 Cleveland Ave. Contact Shirlyn Nash for further information at (619) 237-1082 or shirlyn@webtv.net.