Location: Chicago

Astraea 2014 Highlights

This was another radical year for Astraea and the movement for LGBTQI justice. As we stand at the brink of 2015, these are some of our 2014 highlights.

Broke grantmaking records. 2014 has been our biggest grantmaking year yet. We made nearly $3 million in grants to 81 partners in 35 countries.

Astraea hits Broadway! We were on Broadway for an Uprising of Love! spearheading a movement of LGBTI activism with celebrities like Sting, Patti Lupone, Jane Lynch and many others. The concert benefited Astraea’s $20m Fueling the Frontlines campaign and featured the work of Astraea and our grantee partners!

Created the first CommsLabs. We launched the first-ever Media, Communications and Technology Lab (CommsLabs) in Bogotá, Colombia as part of the Global LGBTI Development Partnership with the USAID. Astraea convened more than 30 activists from Latin America with 12 practitioners in technology and communications, to co-create new media strategies and digital advocacy tools specifically designed to meet the needs of LGBTQI human rights defenders.

Kika Child, CommsLabs Colombia, 2014. Participants exchange gifts. Photo: Ben Parker

Four-star rating from Charity Navigator. Astraea received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities. The ratings, which are assessed annually, take into account organizational governance practices, fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency. It was the highest score of any national LGBTQI organization awarded.

Mourned the loss of icons. The community mourned the loss of gender warrior Leslie Feinbergand Vernita Gray, one of Chicago’s longest and most prolific activists for LGBT rights.

              Left: Vernita Gray. Right: The 1993 Lesbian Writer’s Fund Awards Gala,

Pictured left to right: Cheryl Clarke, Leslie Feinberg, Minnie Bruce Pratt, event emcee Karen Williams, and Cheryl Neal Reed

Intersectional organizing to end state violence. Astraea grantee partners are collectively organizing mass action to end state violence. #BlackLivesMatter is an intersectional movement, led by African American people and queers. Many of Astraea’s grantee partners have helped amplify and lead these waves of change. BreakOUT! and the New Orleans Worker’s Center for Racial Justice organized a Children’s March for Human Rights on October 24th. Streetwise and Safe (SAS) organized a #GetYrRights tweeter rally to bring attention to the power of knowing your rights when interacting with the police as LGBTQ youth. Southerners on New Ground (SONG) coordinated #BlackLivesMatterEverywhere actions with other community organizations and blocked a busy highway in Atlanta, Georgia in honor of the 19th annual National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. Astraea continues to partner with Communities United for Police Reform(CPR) campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York.

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Southerners on New Ground. #BlackLivesMatter Action ATL GA Photo: Lorraine Fontana

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) wins across the globe.

  • UN human rights body condemned violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity
  • Cuba banned employment discrimination
  • In Ecuador, 450 public servants in the health and judicial sector received training on SOGI non discriminatory practises
  • In the United States, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to protect LGBT workers
  • Australia passed the first non-discrimination law protecting intersex people.
  • The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights passed a resolution condemning violence based on SOGI
  • In Kenya and Peru the court legalized trans* name changes and supported individual rights to self determination.
  • Secured partial adoption rights for same sex couples in Colombia
  • Achieved a seventh resolution on LGBTI rights in Latin America.

Trans* rights gained momentum. But we have a long way to go. The Indian Supreme Court officially recognized a third gender, paving the way for access to improved state welfare. 10,000 people gathered in Istanbul for the largest Trans* Pride March ever, despite increased attempts by the state to repress protests since Gezi. Actress Laverne Cox became the first trans* person to appear on the cover of TIME magazine. However, violence against trans* folks and women of color in particular persists. The IDAHOT 2014 update reveals a total of 1,509 reported killings of trans and gender variant people in 61 countries worldwide from January 1st 2008 to March 31st 2014.

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 Istanbul Trans* Pride March 2014. Photo: Yasin AKGUL Astraea, grantee partner Instanbul LGBTT

Marriage equality reached a tipping point. 2014 will be recognized as the tipping point for marriage equality in the US. 35 States legalized same-sex marriage, just over 60 percent of the U.S. population now lives in a state where marriage equality is legal.

Africans celebrated wins despite the increasing sanctioned homophobia on the continent – Uganda held the first pride rally after the ‘abominable’ anti-gay law was overturned. Astraea grantee partners Freedom and Roam Uganda lead a constitutional challenge to the anti-homosexuality bill along with public education and media advocacy in Uganda.

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Freedom and Roam Uganda at Uganda Pride. Photo: Molisa wa NyaKale

In 2015, we stand at the nexus of a movement for justice, recognizing that the fight for gender, racial and class equality is one we are deeply committed to. Help us support brilliant and brave LGBTQI activists on the frontlines of our communities’ struggles for liberation. Here’s to another year in this gorgeous struggle.

Astraea Foundation honors three Chicagoans

Windy City Times covers Astraea’s 2014 Fueling the Frontline Awards, a first-of-its-kind event, held in Chicago May 16 at the Mayne Stage Theatre in Rogers Park.

Windy City Times covers Astraea’s 2014 Fueling the Frontline Awards, a first-of-its-kind event, held in Chicago May 16 at the Mayne Stage Theatre in Rogers Park. Three Chicagoans were presented the award: Julio Rodriguez, Tracy Baim and the late Vernita Gray.

Click here to watch video clips and see photos from the event!

2014 Fueling the Frontlines Awards

 

WE’RE SOLD OUT! This year’s Awards are sold out, but there are still opportunities to celebrate the honorees and support Astraea’s critical work. Please consider making a donation in honor or memory of one of the honorees, or sponsoring tickets for local activists. 

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The 2014 Fueling the Frontlines Awards will take place on Friday, May 16, 2014, at Mayne Stage (1328 W Morse Ave) in Chicago, IL.
[Get Directions]

Event Schedule
6:30pm – Sponsor Cocktail and Hors D’oeuvres Reception
7:15pm – All Ticket-Holder Cocktail and Hors D’oeuvres Reception
7:45pm – Awards Presentation & performance by Special Musical Guest Toshi Reagon

Honorees and Performers
This year’s awards celebrate the life and legacy of Vernita Gray, as well as honor longtime Chicago activists Tracy Baim and Julio Rodriguez. Special musical guest Toshi Reagon will also perform.

Event Committee (In formation)
Angela Barnes & Sofia Anastopoulos
Hope Barrett
Jim Bennett & Terry Vanden Hoek
Maia Lis Benson
Amy Bloom
Jennifer Brier & Kat Hindmand
Alderman James Cappleman
Evette Cardona & Mona Noriega
Kayron & C.C. Carter-Fortenberry
State Representative Kelly Cassidy & Kelley Quinn
Cathy Cohen & Beth Richie
Paul Fairchild
State Representative Sara Feigenholz
Mel Ferrand
Dalila Fridi & Elizabeth McKnight
Vivian Gonzalez
Kathy Guzman & Debbie Sciortino
Jessica Halem
State Representative Greg Harris
Alma Izquierdo & Michelle Figueroa
Michael A. Leppen
Lisa Martinez
Alderman Deb Mell & Christin Baker
Mary Morten & Willa Taylor
Jane M. Saks & Emma Ruby-Sachs
Dr.  Nan Schaffer & Karen Dixon
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Alexandra Silets
The Reverend Stan J. Sloan
State Senator Heather Steans & Leo Smith
Modesto Tico Valle
Jackie Weinberg

 

 Honorees 

Tracy Baim Tracy Baim is publisher and executive editor at Windy City Media Group, which produces Windy City Times, Nightspots, and other gay media in Chicago. She co-founded Windy City Times in 1985 and Outlines newspaper in 1987. She has won numerous gay community and journalism honors, including the Community Media Workshop’s Studs Terkel Award in 2005. She started in Chicago gay journalism in 1984 at GayLife newspaper, one month after graduating with a news-editorial degree from Drake University.

Baim is the editor and co-author of Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America (2012), a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and a Top 10 selection from the American Library Association GLBT Round Table.

She is the author of Obama and the Gays: A Political Marriage (2010, Prairie Avenue Productions). She is also the co-author and editor of Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City’s Gay Community (2008, Agate), the first comprehensive book on Chicago’s gay history (the companion website is ChicagoGayHistory.org); and author of Where the World Meets, a book about Gay Games VII in Chicago (2007, Lulu.com—). Baim served as co-vice chair of the Gay Games board). Her most recent books include a novel, The Half Life of Sgt. Jen Hunter, about lesbians in the military prior to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (it was the stage play Half Life in 2005), and the biographies Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow and Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria.

Baim was executive producer of the lesbian feature film Hannah Free, starring Sharon Gless (2008, Ripe Fruit Films) and Scrooge & Marley, a gay Christmas Carol, in 2012. She was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1994 and was named a Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 leader in 1995.

She is also creator of That’s So Gay!, a 2,400-question LGBT history trivia game.

 

Julio Rodriguez

Julio Rodriguez has been involved for over thirty years in a number of community projects and or organizations. He is one of the founders and current Board President of the one of the few Latino gay, Lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning non-for-profit organization in Chicago and the Midwest, The Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action (ALMA). ALMA has been around since 1989 and has been at the forefront of issues impacting the Latino gay, Lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community both locally and nationally. In 2000, ALMA was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame for its work in the Latino gay community. It was also of the first Latino, gay, non-AIDS-related organizations to receive HIV/AIDS funding from the CDC. In 2001, the group received funding for its Amigos Apoyanado Amigos, peer to peer lead gay, bisexual and questioning men’s support group.

Julio has also served on a number of other local, state and national boards such as the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the Mayor’s Advisory Council Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, The Illinois Latino Prevention Network, Illinois Anti-Violence Authority, the National AIDS Prevention Coalition and the National Latino Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO) and the Color Triangle. In addition to serving on the Board of the Center on Halsted, the first LGBT community center in Chicago, for ten years, he was also recently appointed to the CORE center at Cook County Hospital, one largest community hospitals, serving people with HIV/AIDS. He also serves on the Board of La CASA Norte, the largest provider of homeless services to Latino families and youth in the City of Chicago.

Julio is a native of Chicago, Puerto Rican and has a degree in Business from DePaul University. In 2001 he was recognized in the International “Who’s Who” for Public Service, and again in 2012 in the Latino “Who’s Who” for Community Leadership. He also received the 2003 Community Leader Award for Philathropy from the Chicago Latinos in Philanthropy, and in 2004, was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

 

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Vernita Gray was one of Chicago’s longest and most prolific activists for LGBT rights. She and her wife Pat Ewert were the first same-sex couple married legally in Illinois, Nov. 27, 2013, after winning a court victory because of Gray’s critical health situation. That paved the way for additional court rulings that hastened marriage in Illinois ahead of the original June 1, 2014 implementation of full marriage equality in the state.

Gray was a ubiquitous activist. In the early 1970s, she was instrumental in starting the first gay and lesbian helpline in Chicago in her own apartment. Her one-bedroom place on 56th Street and Drexel Avenue also served as an overnight shelter for a number of teens who had been kicked out by their families because they were gay, lesbian or transgender. Gray gave them a place to go and was there to lend a hand when they needed someone. She was also an editor and wrote for the Lavender Woman newspaper in addition to working on her own writing and poetry and eventually releasing the chapbook Sweet Sixteen.

She worked in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for 18 years, including in the position of victim/witness assistant, where she helped LGBT crime survivors, and as an outreach worker on LGBT issues. Prior to that, she owned the popular Sol Sands restaurant in Uptown.

For her work, Gray has received dozens of honors. She was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1992. She received the prestigious Stonewall Award, the Horizons Community Services Human First Award and many other accolades.

Gray’s life is documented in the upcoming book, Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to the Whitehouse, by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen. (Source: Windy City Times)

 

ToshiReagon

Toshi Reagon is a talented, versatile singer, composer, musician, curator and producer with a profound ear for sonic Americana–from folk to funk, from blues to rock. While her expansive career has landed her comfortably in residence at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House &  Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily find Toshi turning out a music festival, intimate venue or local club. Toshi knows  the power of song to focus, unite and mobilize people. If you’ve been lucky enough to be in Toshi’s presence, you know you can’t walk away from her without feeling better about yourself as a human being. She aims for nothing less.

Toshi has been the recipient of a NYFA award for Music Composition, She co- composed music for two Peabody award winning films, The Black Lily Music and Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance. She is a National Women’s History Month Honoree, and is the 2010 recipient of OutMusic’s Heritage Award. Her collaborators include Lizz Wright, Chocolate Genius, Robert Wilson, Ani DiFranco, her band BIGLovely and her mother Bernice Johnson Reagon.

Toshi’s current touring projects include “Celebrate The Great Women of Blues and Jazz” A 16 piece all women’s ensemble of some of New York’s best Instrumentalist and vocalist. The Opera, “ Zinnias- The Life of Clementine Hunter”. Directed by Robert Wilson. Libretto and Music by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon, Book by Jacqueline Woodson. “The Blues Project” A Collaboration by Dorrance Dance and Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely.

Toshi also created the Words* Rock* & Sword: A Festival Celebration of Women’s Lives as a way to learn and be connected to the powerful work and skills coming from the Women in her community. The festival brings together, Musicians, Film Makers Heath Educators, Dance Instructors, Activist, Community Organizations and everyday brilliant people. It is open to all. Learn more at www.toshireagon.com

Press: Windy City Times on Astraea’’s $20M #FuelingtheFrontlines campaign

Astraea’s Executive Director J. Bob Alotta shares how Astraea is fueling resources to LGBTQI human rights.

In Ecuador, we’re shutting down lesbian torture clinics. In India, we’re fighting colonial laws that recriminalize same-sex relations. In the U.S., we are ensuring healthcare access for trans* people. In South Africa, we’re exposing police tactics to prevent violence… A growing epidemic of extreme violence and extreme rights violations clearly shows the desperate need for this type of on-the-ground investment.

To read more, click here: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Astraea-starts-20-million-world-push-for-LGBTQI-equality/46789.html

Join Us in Chicago at the 2014 Fueling the Frontlines Awards!

This event is now over. To view images from the event, visit our Facebook album. To learn about more ways to get involved with Astraea in your city, visit the Events and Action section of our website.

We’re just days away from Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice’s 2014 Fueling the Frontline Awards. Do you have your tickets yet?

The sponsor reception starts at 6:30 PM at Mayne Stage (1328 W. Morse Avenue), and opens up at 7:15 PM for an all ticket-holder cocktail and hors d’ouerve reception. Then at 7:45, we’ll kick off the awards presentation honoring Vernita Gray, Tracy Baim, and Julio Rodriguez, and enjoy a special musical performance by Toshi Reagon.

There are a limited number of spots left, so I encourage you to get your tickets as soon as possible. Sponsorship opportunities, as well as individual tickets, can be purchased on Astraea’s website. 

In addition, we also have a limited number of sliding scale tickets available. Please feel free to contact Graham Bridgeman, Development Officer for Astraea, at development@astraeafoundation.org with any additional questions.

We look forward to celebrating with you as we honor Vernita, Tracy, and Julio, and advance Astraea’s critical work. We hope you will join us Friday, May 16th for an amazing evening of community, celebration, and song.

Grants Made to our U.S. Anti-Criminalization Grantee Partners

We are excited to announce a new set of grants made to 10 innovative organizations across the country through our U.S. Fund, under the thematic focus of Anti-Criminalization and Freedom from Violence.

Streetwise and Safe's Teeshirt on Police Accountability
“Know Your Rights” t-shirt developed by Streetwise and Safe youth.
We awarded $220,000 to 10 groups working on campaigns and policies that increase safety and end multiple forms of violence within LGBTQI communities across a range of issues. These include efforts around interpersonal and hate violence, domestic, family, and intimate-partner violence, as well as institutional violence. Many of the organizations funded under this thematic focus tackle institutional violence, such as policies that criminalize gender expression, sex work, and many other aspects of LGBTQI people’s lives, dignity, and livelihoods. We are deeply encouraged to see the diverse interventions this set of grantee partners is making in anti-criminalization efforts locally and nationally in the areas of immigration, prison abolition, sex work organizing, and homelessness. By bringing together these groups into a cohort, we expect to see fruitful collaborations among them in policy advocacy efforts specifically related to police accountability at the city and state level.

BreakOUT!
New Orleans, LA

Community United Against Violence – CUAV
San Francisco, CA

El-La Para Translatinas
San Francisco, CA

Freedom Inc.
Madison, WI

Gender Just
Chicago, IL

Gender Justice LA
Los Angeles, CA

Providence Youth Student Movement – PrYSM
Providence, RI

Queers for Economic Justice
New York, NY

Streetwise and Safe
New York, NY

Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project – TGIJP
San Francisco, CA

March Grantee News

This month, we are featuring Gender Justice LA’s work to secure gender-neutral IDs in Los Angeles; a youth empowerment collaboration between Affinity Community Services, Gender JUST, Young Women’s Empowerment Project, and FIERCE; and Red Lésbica Cattrachas’ announcement of policy reforms in Honduras around LGBTI hate crimes and femicides.

 

Gender Justice LA

Los Angeles Secures Gender-Neutral ID
Thanks to advocacy efforts by Astraea grantee partner Gender Justice LA, as well as allied organizations and community members, the new City of Los Angeles “Universal City Services Card,” a citywide identification and services card, will be gender-neutral—the new ID card will not use gender markers. “Now when you apply for a job, pay with a credit card, claim your food stamps,” Gender Justice LA announced in February, “whenever you have to show an ID, you have the option of showing this ID without outing yourself as trans or opening yourself up to harassment, judgment, and discrimination.” The group expects that Los Angeles residents will be able to apply for the Universal City Services Card in late 2013.

Connect Our Roots AttendeesPhoto by Andre Perez

Building LGBTQ Youth of Color Power
In February, four Astraea grantee partners worked in partnership to host Connect Our Roots, a three-day summit in Chicago, to share activist tactics amongst LGBTQ youth of color. Three Chicago-based grantee partners—Affinity Community Services, Gender JUST, and Young Women’s Empowerment Project—hosted the event, and worked with New York City-based FIERCE, who assembled the gathering. Over 40 LGBTQ youth of color attended the summit, representing approximately 17 organizations from 16 cities across the nation. Read more about the conference from the Windy Times’ article.

Red Lésbica CattrachasMarcher at the Feministas en Resistencia march. Photo by Gabrie Mass.

LGBTI Hate Crimes and Femicides Now Protected in Honduras
After several years of strategic policy advocacy, and research and documentation of LGBTQI human rights violations, Red Lésbica Cattrachas announced that key articles of the Honduras Penal Code have been reformed to now penalize hate crimes against LGBTI people, and to penalize femicides.

Red Lésbica Cattrachas has worked on many levels to see the policy reform to fruition. The group has organized trainings and workshops with government officials and community members and led meticulous research efforts and documentation of LGBTQI human rights violations. Additionally, their recent advocacy at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and involvement with the UN Universal Peer Review process of Honduras over the past three years helped secure the policy change.

Affinity Grows: With Movement-Building Initiative Support, Grantee Partner Expand Programming

Two years ago, Affinity was a Black lesbian organization that provided community services and social events, but by taking part in Astraea’s Movement-Building Initiative, it has become so much more.  Affinity is now dedicated to working with a multi-racial, multi-gendered constituency to do social justice work through organizing, services, political education, and strategic partnering with other groups.

After having to move out of their longtime home in a church last year, Affinity found a new temporary space and began working with allies to shore up resources for a permanent community center. “Affinity is the only LGBTI group in Chicago that focuses on communities of color and is large enough to have an Executive Director,” Kim Hunt, Affinity’s Executive Director, told Astraea in May. “By not having its own space right now, it means a lot of other organizations don’t have a space.”

Recognizing that moving to the next step required deep investment, Astraea offered Affinity an additional matching grant opportunity of up to $15,000 towards their new home. In just two months, Affinity was able to raise $45,000 to move ahead on securing a new space in conjunction with Amigas Latinas—a sister organization serving the Latina lesbian and bisexual community in Chicago.

Astraea’s U.S. Movement-Building Initiative was started in 2006 to provide large grants over multiple years to organizations led by queer and transgender people of color that use community organizing to fight for racial, economic and gender justice. What has it meant to be a part of this Initiative—now in its sixth year?

“Affinity would not be where it is today if it were not part of this amazing group of grantees, both in terms of the financial investment that Astraea has made and the influence and great admiration that we have for our colleague grantees across the country,” says Kim Hunt. “Affinity thanks you for believing in us.”

Astraea Condemns Violence and Calls for Comprehensive Change

We at Astraea are deeply saddened by the recent LGBTI youth suicides and condemn the current wave of homophobic motivated violence. Amid the outpouring of public support that is desperately needed, we know these events are symptoms of much larger problems that reverberate far beyond these individual tragedies. From the recent bombing of the Pride parade in Serbia, to a U.S. election cycle that is increasingly marred by anti-gay rhetoric, this culture of hate is inexcusable and reprehensible. But, there is a groundswell of people who are working for something different. Youth teetering on the edge need immediate support and we have young leaders speaking out and taking bold actions. Together, youth and adults can make the systemic changes in society and in our institutions that can make suicide and violence unthinkable.

Every day, Astraea grantee partners around the world are working for safe, affirming and even liberating societies for all people.  Youth-led LGBTI organizations from New York to Nigeria are taking real risks to challenge the status quo and push forward for solutions that address all facets of their lives. We want to share with you two examples that we hope will inspire you to speak out and take action as well.

Astraea Grantee Partners have been speaking out:

FIERCE (New York, NY) is dedicated to building power through leadership development, artistic and cultural activism, political education and campaign development for transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, queer and questioning (TLGBTSQQ) youth of color in New York City.  Astraea has endorsed FIERCE’s campaign to officially designate October as LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City. Sign the petition here.

Excerpt from the FIERCE statement, which can be viewed here.

“These recent incidents highlight serious issues that countless LGBTQ youth face everyday. We know that for every one story heard on the news, there are dozens more that go unreported to police, unnoticed by school officials, and ignored by the media. At the same time over these past few weeks, we’ve also experienced the resiliency and strength of our community as we’ve organized and turned out to vigils and community actions and mourned our losses together. We’ve created and received messages of hope from LGBTQ community members, allies, public officials and even celebrities. Together, we’ve raised the nation’s awareness to issues that impact us, but we must keep pushing–now is the time to take action and demand changes that address the full scope of issues impacting LGBTQ youth. We need solutions that go beyond messages of hope. We need concrete changes that positively impact the daily lives of LGBTQ youth, particularly youth of color whose voices and needs go unheard far too often. We need our government officials to pass policy changes that ensure safes spaces in our schools and jobs, increase funding for LGBTQ youth services and prioritize creating more safe spaces for LGBTQ youth to congregate and organize together in order to take leadership in our efforts for safety and respect.”

Gender JUST (Chicago, IL) is a multiracial and multigenerational youth-led organization working to support all LGBT youth in Chicago.

Excerpt from the Gender JUST statement, which can be viewed here.

“While youth violence is a very serious issue in our schools, the real bullies we face in our schools take the form of systemic violence perpetrated by the school system itself: a sex education that ignores queer youth and a curriculum that denies our history, a militarized school district with cops in our schools, a process of privatization which displaces us, increasing class sizes which undermine our education and safety.  The national calls to end the violence against queer youth completely ignore the most violent nature of our educational experience.  Our greatest concern is that there is a resounding demand for increased violence as a reaction, in the form of Hate Crime penalties which bolster the Prison-Industrial-Complex and Anti-bullying measures which open the door to zero-tolerance polices and reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline.  At Gender JUST, we call for a transformative and restorative response that seeks solutions to the underlying issues, takes into account the circumstances surrounding violence, and works to change the very culture of our schools and communities.  Gender JUST had a momentous victory towards this end in early 2010: through grassroots youth-led organizing, Gender JUST developed a Grievance Procedure based on the principles of Restorative Justice for Chicago Public Schools.

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