Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice will be at Social Venture Network’s 2013 Fall Conference in Baltimore from October 17th-20th. Join us at this convening which connects, supports, and inspires business leaders and social entrepreneurs in expanding practices that build a just and sustainable economy.
Social Venture Network’s 2013 Fall Conference Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace | Baltimore, MD
Fueling Social Change and Cultural Transformation
Saturday, October 19, 2013
11:00am 12:15pm
J. Bob Alotta, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and Joe Steele, Steele Consulting. Facilitated by Donna Daniels, Social Venture Network.
Visit Social Venture Network’s website for the full schedule and to register.
From October 14th November 1st, 2013, Astraea will convene several grantee partners and other activists in Stockholm, Sweden for Rainbow Leaders, a 3 week training and leadership program offered to activist leaders in the Global LGBTI movement.
From October 14th November 1st, 2013, Astraea will convene several grantee partners and other activists in Stockholm, Sweden for Rainbow Leaders, a 3 week training and leadership program offered to activist leaders in the Global LGBTI movement.
Rainbow Leaders is supported by the Global LGBTI Human Rights Partnership, a partnership between U.S. Agency for International Development, Sida, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, RFSL, and corporate partners. This is the first of three trainings that will occur between 2013-2015.
During the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the training, Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez (Astraea Program Officer) and Kellea Miller (Astraea Program Manager, Global LGBTI Human Rights Partnership) will be educating Rainbow Leaders participants on best practices around monitoring and evaluation.
Join Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice on October 4th and 5th for two panels at Queer Dreams and Nonprofit Blues. The conference explores the ways in which the nonprofit structure and its logics inform the scope, agenda, forms, and aspiration of queer and LGBT politics. Today, formally constituted nonprofits perform the bulk of the work of advocacy, research, litigation, service delivery and organizing on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity both in the US and around the world. But questions persist about the nature of the gains made, the agendas being promoted, whom they have benefitted and which populations they leaves behind.
Jerome Greene Hall, Columbia Law School
435 West 116th Street | New York, NY 10027
#queerdreams
Can Philanthropy and Democracy be Reconciled?
Friday, October 4th
2:00 3:30 pm
Gara Lamarche, David Barr, Gabriel Foster, Christine Ahn.
Moderator: J. Bob Alotta
The queer movement has been built and sustained through the time, services and money given by queer and trans individuals. Historically, philanthropic institutions and large individual donors have provided a small fraction of the support for LGBT organizations and activism. This section of the program looks at (1) the impact and focus of funding for LGBT movement work today; (2) innovative models for building and sustaining organizations; (3) and at mechanisms to address the impact of economic inequality and class differences inside nonprofit organizations. A 40 year report on LGBT philanthropy, Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues detailed that the first grant formally made by a Foundation to an LGBT group was in 1970. From 1970-1976, foundations gave about $224,935 to LGBT groups. By comparison, from 2006-2010, $389,840,052 in funding was given from 560 different foundations to 3,242 unique grantees. What are the challenges presented to social movements in their dependence on foundations? Can the private foundation process be democratized to allow inputs from communities served?
The Coming (and Present) Funding Crisis in LGBT Work
Saturday, October 5th
11:00 am 12:30 pm
Mara Keisling, Trishala Deb, Ben Francisco Maulbeck, Sangeeta Budhiraja.
Moderator: Frances Kunreuther
This roundtable discussion looks ahead at the funding horizon for nonprofits to consider if there is a funding crisis for LGBT work, and if so, what are its contours? How does funding get distributed and how will it cascade over the next decade? Where is the funding focused and how does it in turn focus the work of the LGBT movement? What is the impact of trends or fads in philanthropy (like venture philanthropy, measurable outcomes or project support) on which populations in the movement are served and which are not? What is the correlation between what is funded and what is moved? If public support decreases how will nonprofits working to provide services meet the needs they serve? What will happen to the nonprofits working on issues other than marriage once that issue is resolved? How are POC and trans focused groups impacted by present funding decisions and by the coming funding crisis?
Visit Queer Dreams and Nonprofit Blues’ website for the full schedule.
Astraea is traveling to Curaçao to join colleagues, grantee partners, and community members at the first-ever Caribbean Women and Sexuality Conference.
The Caribbean Women and Sexuality Conference (CWSDC) was funded Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice alongside several partners: The Caribbean Forum for the Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS), Arcus Foundation, ARC International, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), Council for Global Equality, and Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights.
The CWSDC came out of discussion generated in February 2012 at the International Dialogue and Training on LGBT Human Rights in Saint Lucia. Also a first of its kind convening in the Caribbean, The Dialogue drew the largest number of lesbian and bisexual women attendees ever recorded from the region in one space. Recognizing a need for further dialogue, a womens caucus was organised and United and Strong partnered with the Fundashon Orguyo Korsou/Curaçao Pride Foundation (FOKO) to take the lead on organizing a follow-up conference.
The CWSDC will take place from September 22th-29th, 2013 in Curaçao. A Pre-conference will be held on September 23 & 24th. It will include a Proposal Writing Workshop facilitated by Astraea Program Officer Mónica Enríquez-Enríquez.
Read about the CWSDC from Astraea grantee partner SASOD’s blog.
For the first time, Astraea Foundation brings together activists from three grantee partner organizations for a North-South dialogue on mobilizing community responses to police brutality, human rights abuses, and criminalization. Join us for a unique conversation with Alondra Yajaira Marquez Carabali from Santamaría Fundación (Santiago de Cali, Colombia), Chris Bilal from Streetwise and Safe (New York, U.S.), and Alisha Williams from Sylvia Rivera Law Project (New York, U.S.).
For the first time, Astraea Foundation brings together activists from three grantee partner organizations for a North-South dialogue on mobilizing community responses to police brutality, human rights abuses, and criminalization. Join us for a unique conversation with Alondra Yajaira Marquez Carabali from Santamaría Fundación (Santiago de Cali, Colombia), Chris Bilal from Streetwise and Safe (New York, U.S.), and Alisha Williams from Sylvia Rivera Law Project (New York, U.S.).
Alondra will discuss Santamaría Fundacións anti-criminalization advocacy and policy victories in Santiago de Cali, a city with one of the highest levels of violence against LGBT people, and in particular trans women, in Colombia. Alondra will speak about Observatorio Ciudadano (Community Watchdog Program) which addresses police abuse towards trans women and anti-violence advocacy campaigns around the treatment of LGBT people within Colombias prison system. Alisha will discuss Sylvia Rivera Law Projects legal program, its Prison Project, and other efforts SRLP leads with LGBTI communities of color in New York to respond to violence and criminalization. Chris Bilal will speak about bringing an LGBT perspective to the movement against the discriminatory Stop and Frisk practices in New York City.
Meet the Activist: A North-South Dialogue on Freedom from Violence
Thursday, September 12th, 6pm 8pm??
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
?116 East 16th Street, 7th Floor
?New York, NY 10003
Please RSVP by emailing rsvp@astraeafoundation.org. This event is in English with Spanish translation as needed. Event is wheelchair accessible. Light refreshments will be served.
Held as intimate gatherings at our office, Astraeas Meet the Activist series provides a unique opportunity to learn about the work of LGBTQ activists and movements around the world.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Alondra Yajaira Marquez Carabali is an Afro-Colombian Trans woman and a social activist and human rights defender at Santamaria Fundación. For five years she has been the organizations facilitator in the area of human dignity which includes the right to life, freedom, and physical integrity. She has participated as a speaker at national and international levels on topics such as health, HIV/AIDS, body transformation, social inclusion, racial discrimination, and human rights.
Santamaría Fundación was founded in 2005 by four Trans women who had witnessed the murder of one of their friends. Centered on self-determination, today, Santamaria Fundación has almost 8 years of experience fostering trans womens leadership in Santiago de Cali, a city in Colombia with one of the highest rates of transphobic hate crime. The organization works locally and regionally with trans women, providing legal support and addressing the lack of access to health care through holistic health campaigns. Santamaria Fundación also reports on LGBT human rights violations, monitoring police-community relations, and conducting policy advocacy with the local and national government, as well as internationally primarily through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Alisha Williams, Esq. is the Director of Prisoner Justice at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project where she represents transgender prisoners through legal service provision, impact litigation, policy and advocacy, and public education. Alisha’s work with the prisoner justice project and SRLP’s Prisoner Advisory Committee seeks to further an abolitionist dialogue that centralizes the voices of incarcerated trans, gender non-conforming and intersex community members. After graduating from Cardozo Law School, Alisha moved to Philadelphia where she was an active member of the Books through Bars Collective. In addition to her prison organizing work in Philadelphia, she worked at a small plaintiffs litigation firm, practiced disability law and clerked for the honorable judge Quinones.??
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence. SRLP was founded in August 2002 by Dean Spade, a white, queer, trans person, as an Open Society Institute and Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow. Dean sought to create an organization that addressed the severe poverty and over-incarceration he saw in low income transgender communities and transgender communities of color, understanding that meaningful political participation for people struggling against gender identity discrimination could only come in partnership with economic justice. SRLP became a collective in 2003, and soon evolved into what it is today: a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization run collectively by and for low income trans communities and trans communities of color, which provides legal services, public education, and works towards policy change through community organizing. Today the SRLP core collective, composed of staff and board, is always more than 50% people of color and more than 50% transgender.
Chris Bilal is a youth activist who works for Streetwise & Safe and is a proud member of Communities United for Police Reform the New York based coalition pushing for legislation that would substantially reduce the number of encounters between police and residents that are based on racial and gender profiling and discrimination.
Streetwise and Safe (SAS) is a collaborative multi-strategy initiative to develop leadership, knowledge, and skills among LGBTQQ youth of color who have experienced gender-and-sexuality-specific forms of race and class based policing, particularly in the context “quality of life” policing and the policing of sex work and trafficking in persons. SAS has been very active in the Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) campaign, and is the only LGBTQ youth of color organization part of CPR’s steering committee. Their critical participation highlights the ways in which “Stop and Frisk” practices not only affect black and brown men, but LGBTQI youth of color in particular. SAS, along other NY-based grantee partners, are pushing for the NYC Community Safety Act, which is a landmark police reform legislative package introduced in the City Council in 2012 and if passed will end discriminatory policing and hold the NYPD accountable for the misuse of their authority. They continue to organize around the “No Condoms as Evidence Bill” which passed the New York State Assembly and aims to prohibit police and prosecutors from confiscating and introducing condoms as evidence of intent to engage in prostitution related offenses.
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is proud to be a Community Partner to SOONGAVA DANCE OF THE ORCHIDS, the centerpiece film in the Asian American International Film Festival AAIFF13.
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is proud to be a Community Partner to SOONGAVA DANCE OF THE ORCHIDS, the centerpiece film in the Asian American International Film Festival AAIFF13. Use our code to purchase discounted tickets to see the film.
Featuring two luminous performers, Deeya MASKEY, Nisha ADHIKARI, SOONGAVA DANCE OF THE ORCHIDS is a tender and heartbreaking tale about two young women: Diya, who dreams of becoming a dancer, and her best girlfriend Kiran. When her feelings for Kiran deepen and develop into a love affair, she has to stand up against her family, and the traditions and morality of Nepali society. In a country where the third gender is legally recognized, same-sex relationships continue to be stigmatized. This debut feature by Subarna THAPA is the first Nepali film to spotlight LGBTQ issues. Watch the trailer!
Screening:
Saturday July 27, 2013 | 8:00 pm
New York Institute of Technology
1871 Broadway, NY, NY 10023
Use our member code ASTRAEA3613 to purchase discount tickets!
The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and the Global Philanthropy Project will participate in a session on July 11th at the 2013 International Human Rights Funders Group (IHRFG) Conference in New York City.
The Human Rights Agenda in the 21st Century: Who Defines It?
Debate and discuss with leading human rights practitioners, policy makers, scholars, and grantmaker peers on pressing questions about the evolving face, role and value of human rights in our current era. Read full conference information.
New York University School of Law, D’Agostino Hall
108 West Third Street, New York, NY 10012
THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1:30PM-3PM
How to Make Friends and Influence Donors: Three Models for Philanthropic Advocacy
Sponsored by the Global Philanthropy Project, this panel will feature discussions on a range of approaches to philanthropic advocacy. Speakers include Astraea Foundation’s Executive Director, J. Bob Alotta.
Join Astraea on Monday April 15 from 6-7pm for a conversation on Palestinian LGBTQ activism with Haneen Maikey, founder & director of alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity within Palestinian Society.
Meet the Activist: Haneen Maikey
Monday, April 15th, 6-7pm
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
116 East 16th Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Join the event on facebook!
alQaws builds power and community among Palestinian LGBTQ people both sides of the border, to transform Palestinian civil society towards sexual and gender justice. Haneen is also a leading voice in growing transnational movements to challenge occupation & racism.
Held as intimate gatherings at our office, Astraeas Meet the Activist series provides a unique opportunity to learn about the work of LGBTQ activists and movements around the world.
Event is wheelchair accessible.
We are celebrating Women’s History month! Astraea is offering a limited amount of discounted tickets for the Lizz Wright and Nikky Finney performance at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s 2013 Women’s Jazz Festival.
Join us for an extraordinary evening with world-renowned vocalist, Lizz Wright and National Book Award winning poet and Astraea Lesbian Writer’s Fund judge, Nikky Finney.
Monday, March 25, 2013
7-9 p.m. (Pick up your tickets from Astraea staff at 6:30pm)
Click here to purchase tickets!
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Langston Hughes Auditorium
515 Malcolm X Boulevard
New York, NY 10037-1801
Partially accessible to wheelchairs
MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Lizz Wright has been the recipient of nonstop critical acclaim and has happily confounded expectations along the way about what should be expected of an artist whos known for topping the jazz charts but is far from most peoples idea of a traditional jazz singer.
Nikky Finney was a judge for Astraea’s Lesbian Writer’s Fund in 2011. Her fourth book of poetry, Head Off & Split was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for poetry. If you haven’t already seen it, we encourage you to view her acceptance speech.
Join us for an informal meet and greet with many international and New York based grantee partners, foundation allies, and friends who will be in New York for the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women.
