Podcasts about astraea lesbian foundation

This podcast features Nachale Boonyapisomparn or Hua who is a trans woman activist who has founded powerful, successful support and advocacy groups and lasting networks to support health and human rights of transgender and LGB people locally and globally. Sisters and Thai TGA (Foundation of Transgender Alliance for Human Rights) are two transgender peoples-led organisations in Thailand - both of whom were co-founded by Hua, along with Asia Pacific Transgender Network. She is currently with Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, aCast, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, and other podcast streaming platforms.ThanksCNS team

This episode is the last conversation of Season 11. The episode took place in NYC with a live audience of over 1,000 people. AFP-NYC puts on a fundraising day for fundraisers every year-- we were lucky enough to be the morning keynote. Enjoy the live format featuring Wendy Sealey and thank you AFP-NYC! Wendy Sealey has over 20 years of non-profit management and fundraising experience, overseeing teams in the areas of leadership gifts, campaign fundraising, annual fundraising, and special events. Currently, she currently oversees a $30 million fundraising program as Vice President for Development at the Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide. Wendy is a sought-after fundraising coach, advisor, and speaker who has worked with a variety of nonprofits in New York City. Prior to joining the Guttmacher Institute, Wendy raised funds for the ACLU's Centennial Campaign, East Harlem Tutorial Program's capital campaign, Bank Street College of Education's strategic initiative campaign, and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation's multi-million-dollar grant-making program. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/devdebrief/support

We just completed the seminal month for women's rights globally – worldwide celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th, innumerable events worldwide for Women's History month in the United States, and the 66th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) recently concluded. Women's rights and feminist organizations and movements are the drivers of change for gender equality yet, the question of how feminist organizations grow and thrive, the tensions they experience between principles and how those get practiced, and around how power is exercised are really topics at events like the CSW.  In our last episode, we interviewed three founder leaders of feminist organizations and for this episode, we talked with a group of fierce feminist leaders who invested their hearts and souls in four very different organizational contexts over the past 30 years. Ruby Johnson and Devi Leiper were co-EDs of FRIDA, the young feminist fund and stepped down when they turned 35, about 2 years ago. Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng was ED of ISIS WICCE, based in Uganda, for more than 20 years and stepped down in her 60s, about 5 years ago. Sara Gould was with the Ms. Foundation for Women in the U.S. for 25 years, including six years as its President and stepped down ten years ago at 60. And Katherine Acey led the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, based in New York, for more than 20 years and stepped down 11 years ago. The Ms. Foundation works exclusively in the U.S. while all the other organizations work transnationally. Three of the organizations are women's funds. Each of the leaders in this conversation had unique experiences and thoughts about their transitions. And each brings huge amounts of wisdom and experience to the question of how leadership transitions can center feminist principles more intentionally. Come and listen to their stories!

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor in conversation with Hanif Abdurraqib to celebrate the release of Boyce-Taylor's intimate collection Mama Phife Represents, a tribute to her departed son Malik ‘Phife Dawg' Taylor of the legendary hip-hop trio A Tribe Called Quest. ---------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a poet and teaching artist. She earned an MFA from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine and an MSW from Fordham University. Her collections of poetry include Raw Air (2000), Night When Moon Follows (2000), Convincing the Body (2005), and Arrival(2017), which was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. The founder and curator of Calypso Muse and the Glitter Pomegranate Performance Series, Boyce-Taylor is also a poetry judge for the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She has led workshops for Cave Canem, Poets & Writers, and the Caribbean Literary and Cultural Center. Her poetry has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater and the National Endowment for the Arts for Ronald K. Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company. Boyce-Taylor is the recipient of the 2015 Barnes & Noble Writers For Writers Award and a VONA fellow. Her life papers and portfolio are stored at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was released in June 2016 from Button Poetry. It was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. With Big Lucks, he released a limited edition chapbook, Vintage Sadness, in summer 2017 (you cannot get it anymore and he is very sorry.) His first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was released in winter 2017 by Two Dollar Radio and was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and The Chicago Tribune, among others. He released Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest with University of Texas press in February 2019. The book became a New York Times Bestseller, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. His second collection of poems, A Fortune For Your Disaster, was released in 2019 by Tin House, and won the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize. In 2021, he will release the book A Little Devil In America with Random House. He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School. ---------------------------------------------------- Order a copy of Mama Phife Represents: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1551-mama-phife-represents Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/EBSCuT-rM94 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Join Cheryl Boyce-Taylor and Alexis Pauline Gumbs as they discuss mothering, parenting, loss, and Cheryl's new book Mama Phife Represents. ---------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a poet and teaching artist. She earned an MFA from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine and an MSW from Fordham University. Her collections of poetry include Raw Air (2000), Night When Moon Follows (2000), Convincing the Body (2005), and Arrival (2017), which was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. The founder and curator of Calypso Muse and the Glitter Pomegranate Performance Series, Boyce-Taylor is also a poetry judge for the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She has led workshops for Cave Canem, Poets & Writers, and the Caribbean Literary and Cultural Center. Her poetry has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater and the National Endowment for the Arts for Ronald K. Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company. Boyce-Taylor is the recipient of the 2015 Barnes & Noble Writers For Writers Award and a VONA fellow. Her life papers and portfolio are stored at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a Queer Black Feminist Love Evangelist, a daughter-on-assignment and a cousin-in-the-making. She is the author of Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, Dub: Finding Ceremony, M Archive: After the End of the World and Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity. She is also co-editor of Revolutionary Mothering Love on the Front Lines and co-founder of Mobile Homecoming Trust. This year Alexis is a National Humanities Fellow writing a new biography called The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde: Biography as Ceremony. Order a copy of Mama Phife Represents: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1551-mama-phife-represents Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/sr1_I0h4HZM Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Feminist philanthropists aren't afraid to be challenged. This episode we're joined by Vidya Nair from the Equality Fund and Kerry-Jo Ford Lyn from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice to discuss how we can undo some of our long-held fundraising best practices in order to move into meaningful action.

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a poet and workshop facilitator. The recipient of the 2015 Barnes and Noble Writers For Writers Award, she is the founder and curator of Calypso Muse and the Glitter Pomegranate Performance Series. Cheryl earned an MFA in Poetry from Stonecoast: The University of Southern Maine, and an MSW from Fordham University. She is the author of four  collections of poetry: Raw Air, Night When Moon Follows, Convincing the Body, and Arrival. A poetry judge for The New York Foundation for the Arts, and The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, she has facilitated poetry workshops for Cave Canem, Poets & Writers, and The Caribbean Literary and Cultural Center. Her poetry has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater and the National Endowment for the Arts for Ronald K. Brown: Evidence, A Dance Company. A VONA fellow, her work has been published in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Pluck!, Killings Journal of Arts & Letters, and Adrienne.  Her life papers and portfolio are stored at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in NYC.

Robyn and Anna chat about the pandemic, the church, and social justice with Latinx visionary Lisbeth Melendez-Rivera. Her perspective is formed by her Puerto Rican roots, her background in the medical field, and the unashamed presence in queer liberation. Lisbeth is the Director of Latino and Catholic Initiatives for the Religion and Faith Program. . She envisioned and directed Before God: We Are All Family, a powerful short documentary that she has shared with Latino/a communities across the country. In addition to being a powerful training tool, Before God has been recognized at the Reel it OUT Queer Film Festival in Norfolk, Virginia and at the Ethnografilm Festival in Paris, France.As the Director of Latino and Catholic Initiatives, Lisbeth works to deepen the already impressive reach of her work with Latino/a communities and will to develop and implement Catholic engagement work across the organization. As a testament to Lisbeth’s longtime work at the intersection of Latino/a and LGBT communities, Lisbeth was recognized with The Legacy Award, presented by the Women of the Latino GLBT History Project in partnership with the DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.Lisbeth has crisscrossed the country, training workers and community leaders in organizing, leadership development and community building strategies from a grassroots perspective. Lisbeth has served on the Boards of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health, the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, Pride @ Work & the National Organizer Alliance. She has also been a volunteer with Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD), Haymarket People’s Fund, ASTRAEA Lesbian Foundation for Justice as well as many other organizations.A biologist and sociologist by education, is it her calling to social justice that makes her passions flare and her days move forward. Today Lisbeth lives in Washington, DC alongside her life-partner, Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, her godson, and their animal farm!

Robyn and Anna chat about the pandemic, the church, and social justice with Latinx visionary Lisbeth Melendez-Rivera. Her perspective is formed by her Puerto Rican roots, her background in the medical field, and the unashamed presence in queer liberation. Lisbeth is the Director of Latino and Catholic Initiatives for the Religion and Faith Program. . She envisioned and directed Before God: We Are All Family, a powerful short documentary that she has shared with Latino/a communities across the country. In addition to being a powerful training tool, Before God has been recognized at the Reel it OUT Queer Film Festival in Norfolk, Virginia and at the Ethnografilm Festival in Paris, France.As the Director of Latino and Catholic Initiatives, Lisbeth works to deepen the already impressive reach of her work with Latino/a communities and will to develop and implement Catholic engagement work across the organization. As a testament to Lisbeth’s longtime work at the intersection of Latino/a and LGBT communities, Lisbeth was recognized with The Legacy Award, presented by the Women of the Latino GLBT History Project in partnership with the DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.Lisbeth has crisscrossed the country, training workers and community leaders in organizing, leadership development and community building strategies from a grassroots perspective. Lisbeth has served on the Boards of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health, the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, Pride @ Work & the National Organizer Alliance. She has also been a volunteer with Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD), Haymarket People’s Fund, ASTRAEA Lesbian Foundation for Justice as well as many other organizations.A biologist and sociologist by education, is it her calling to social justice that makes her passions flare and her days move forward. Today Lisbeth lives in Washington, DC alongside her life-partner, Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, her godson, and their animal farm!

"Look how people handle this very complicated tangled issue of morality and look at the extent they are willing to go to justify their actions. What I was trying to get to was that we’re all flawed." - Rajia Hassib Rajia Hassib was born and raised in Egypt and moved to the United States when she was twenty-three. Her first novel, In the Language of Miracles, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and received an honorable mention from the Arab American Book Award. Her second novel, A Pure Heart, was published by Viking (Penguin) in August of 2019. She holds an MA in creative writing from Marshall University, and she has written for The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker online, and Literary Hub. She lives in Charleston, West Virginia with her husband and two children.  CLICK HERE TO ENTER TO WIN A COPY OF A PURE HEART Connect with Rajia on Twitter, Instagram, on her website.   Rajia's book recommendations: Salt Houses by Hala Alyan My Past is a Foreign Country: A Muslim Feminist Finds Herself by Zeba Talkhani The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah A Curious Land by Susan Muaddi Darraj (listen to Susan's episode here!) Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo -- We donate 5% of all our sales to a different feminist organization each month. Our February charity is the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Get $5 off your Feminist Book Club Box with the code PODCAST at feministbookclub.com/shop. --- FBC ON TOUR!   March 1: The Price of Salt discussion at The Irreverent Bookworm (Minneapolis, MN) March 7: FeMNist Night Market at the Palace Theatre (St. Paul, MN) March 28-29: Twin Cities Women's Expo at Rosedale Center (Roseville, MN) May 9: Wordplay 2020 at The Loft (Minneapolis, MN) May 30-31: BookCon at Javits Center (NYC)   --   Website: http://www.feministbookclub.com Instagram: @feministbookclubbox Twitter: @fmnstbookclub Facebook: /feministbookclubbox Goodreads: Renee // Feminist Book Club Box and Podcast Email newsletter: http://bit.ly/FBCemailupdates   -- This podcast is produced on the native land of the Dakota, Sioux, and Anishinabewaki peoples.   Logo and web design by Shatterboxx  Editing support from Phalin Oliver Original music by @iam.onyxrose Transcript for this episode: bit.ly/FBCtranscript64  

"Young readers demand honesty from the writer. I have to make sure I’m talking to them in a direct and respectful way." - Susan Muaddi Darraj Susan Muaddi Darraj won an American Book Award for her novel-in-stories, A Curious Land. It also earned the 2016 Arab American Book Award,  won the AWP Grace Paley Prize, and was shortlisted for a Palestine Book Award. In 2018, she was named a 2018 Ford Fellow by USA Artists. Her debut children’s chapter book series, Farah Rocks (Capstone Books), is the first to feature a Palestinian American protagonist -- the smart, brave, and funny Farah Hajjar. The first book in the series is Farah Rocks Fifth Grade, which was published in January 2020. CLICK HERE TO ENTER TO WIN A SIGNED COPY OF FARAH ROCKS FIFTH GRADE! Connect with Susan on Twitter, Instagram, on her website.   Susan's book recommendation: Malawi's Sisters by Melanie S. Hatter -- We donate 5% of all our sales to a different feminist organization each month. Our February charity is the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Get $5 off your Feminist Book Club Box with the code PODCAST at feministbookclub.com/shop. --- FBC ON TOUR!   March 1: The Price of Salt discussion at The Irreverent Bookworm (Minneapolis, MN) March 7: FeMNist Night Market at the Palace Theatre (St. Paul, MN) March 28-29: Twin Cities Women's Expo at Rosedale Center (Roseville, MN) May 9: Wordplay 2020 at The Loft (Minneapolis, MN) May 30-31: BookCon at Javits Center (NYC)   --   Website: http://www.feministbookclub.com Instagram: @feministbookclubbox Twitter: @fmnstbookclub Facebook: /feministbookclubbox Goodreads: Renee // Feminist Book Club Box and Podcast Email newsletter: http://bit.ly/FBCemailupdates   -- This podcast is produced on the native land of the Dakota, Sioux, and Anishinabewaki peoples.   Logo and web design by Shatterboxx  Editing support from Phalin Oliver Original music by @iam.onyxrose Transcript for this episode: bit.ly/FBCtranscript63  

"As an own voices story, I feel a degree of responsibility to get this right, to tell this story exactly right. And I’ve had to tell myself that I’m not responsible for all stories, I’m not the answer to all questions. I am telling this story as it has impacted me, my family, and my experience." - Isabel Ibañez Isabel Ibañez was born in Boca raton, Florida and is the proud daughter of two Bolivian immigrants. A true word nerd, she received her degree in creative writing and has been a Pitch Wars mentor for three years. Isabel is an avid movie-goer and loves hosting friends and family around the dinner table. She currently lives in Winter Park, Florida with her husband, their adorable dog, and a series collection of books. Woven in Moonlight is her debut novel and is published by Page Street.   Connect with Isabel on Twitter, Instagram, on her website.   Isabel's book recommendations: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova   Also mentioned in this episode: Send a Feminist Valentine from Feminist Book Club Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia -- We donate 5% of all our sales to a different feminist organization each month. Our February charity is the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Get $5 off your Feminist Book Club Box with the code PODCAST at feministbookclub.com/shop. --- FBC ON TOUR!   March 1: The Price of Salt discussion at The Irreverent Bookworm (Minneapolis, MN) March 7: FeMNist Night Market at the Palace Theatre (St. Paul, MN) March 28-29: Twin Cities Women's Expo at Rosedale Center (Roseville, MN) May 9: Wordplay 2020 at The Loft (Minneapolis, MN) May 30-31: BookCon at Javits Center (NYC)   --   Website: http://www.feministbookclub.com Instagram: @feministbookclubbox Twitter: @fmnstbookclub Facebook: /feministbookclubbox Goodreads: Renee // Feminist Book Club Box and Podcast Email newsletter: http://bit.ly/FBCemailupdates   -- This podcast is produced on the native land of the Dakota, Sioux, and Anishinabewaki peoples.   Logo and web design by Shatterboxx  Editing support from Phalin Oliver Original music by @iam.onyxrose Transcript for this episode: bit.ly/FBCtranscript62  

"A lot of black girls are inheriting this strong black woman trope that when it comes time for vulnerability to be revealed, it’s uncomfortable." - Khristi Lauren Adams Khristi Lauren Adams is a speaker, author, youth advocate and ordained Baptist minister.  She is currently the Firestone Endowment Chaplain and an Instructor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Khristi also works as co-director of Diversity and Inclusion at the Hill School. She is the author of Parable of the Brown Girl, which highlights the cultural and spiritual truths that emerge from the lives of young black girls. It’s published by Fortress Press and will release in February 2020.   Connect with Khristi on Twitter, Instagram, on her website.   Khristi's book recommendation: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott   -- We donate 5% of all our sales to a different feminist organization each month. Our February charity is the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Get $5 off your Feminist Book Club Box with the code PODCAST at feministbookclub.com/shop. -- JOIN US IN MINNEAPOLIS! Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 2:00pm CST at The Irreverent Bookworm We'll be discussing The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya RSVP on Facebook -- This episode is brought to you in collaboration with WeSparkle. Learn more at wesparkle.org.     --   Website: http://www.feministbookclub.com Instagram: @feministbookclubbox Twitter: @fmnstbookclub Facebook: /feministbookclubbox Goodreads: Renee // Feminist Book Club Box and Podcast Email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dINNkn   -- This podcast is produced on the native land of the Dakota, Sioux, and Anishinabewaki peoples.   Logo and web design by Shatterboxx  Editing support from Phalin Oliver Original music by @iam.onyxrose Transcript for this episode: bit.ly/FBCtranscript60  

"As technology advances and as we can do more, some of those things may benefit us but we also create a situation and culture where people forget that their bodily autonomy doesn’t have to be bound up in data and science." - Megan Angelo Megan Angelo has written about television, film, women and pop culture, and motherhood for publications including The New York Times (where she helped launch city comedy coverage), Glamour (where she was a contributing editor and wrote a column on women and television), Elle, The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, and Slate. She is a mother of three and lives in Pennsylvania. Followers is her first novel.   Connect with Megan on Twitter, Instagram, on her website.   Megan's book recommendations: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, The Wives by Tarryn Fisher, and All Adults Here by Emma Straub   -- We donate 5% of all our sales to a different feminist organization each month. Our February charity is the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Get $5 off your Feminist Book Club Box with the code PODCAST at feministbookclub.com/shop. -- JOIN US IN MINNEAPOLIS! Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 2:00pm CST at The Irreverent Bookworm We'll be discussing The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya RSVP on Facebook -- This episode is brought to you in collaboration with Les Chocolateries Askanya: Grown in Haiti, made in Haiti, enjoyed everywhere. Get 20% off your order with code ASKCHOCO2020 at http://www.askanya.ht.     --   Website: http://www.feministbookclub.com Instagram: @feministbookclubbox Twitter: @fmnstbookclub Facebook: /feministbookclubbox Goodreads: Renee // Feminist Book Club Box and Podcast Email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dINNkn   -- This podcast is produced on the native land of the Dakota, Sioux, and Anishinabewaki peoples.   Logo and web design by Shatterboxx  Editing support from Phalin Oliver Original music by @iam.onyxrose Transcript for this episode: bit.ly/FBCtranscript59  

Kim has over 20 years’ experience working with grassroots, community-based, and national nonprofit organizations. Her work has been intergenerational. She’s been engaged with the Third Wave Fund ensuring young women, queer, and trans youth of color have the tools and resources they need to lead powerful movements, and that they have a seat at the table within philanthropy. She’s worked with GRIOT Circle Inc.; In Our Own Voices. a community-based, multigenerational organization serving LGBTQ elders of color. Her work has crossed boundaries working with many organizations including Fierce!!, Stonewall Community Foundation’s Racial Equity Initiative; Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues; and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She has worked with pioneering organizations and is the co-founder of Beyond Bold & Brave, Black Lesbian Conference 2016 and 2018; and founder of Kitchen Table Giving Circle: A Black/African Descent Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Women Philanthropic Initiative. She has facilitated workshops; moderated and spoken at events, panels and readings; presented on various topics including organizing in the LGBTQ POC communities, racism within LGBTQ communities, women’s health and wellness, and sexuality. She is now focusing her energies in a new direction making a commitment to invest in herself. As a health and fitness coach, she uses her journey to assist and motivate others to find Mind Body and soul balance.

 A Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, Sheree L. Greer is a writer and educator living in Tampa, Florida. She founded The Kitchen Table Literary Arts Center to showcase and support the work of Black women and women writers of color and is the author of two novels, Let the Lover Be and A Return to Arms, a short story collection, Once and Future Lovers, and a student writing guide, Stop Writing Wack Essays. Sheree is a VONA/VOICES alum, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice grantee, Ragdale Artist House Rubin Fellow, and YADDO fellow. She has completed Creative Capital Core Skills workshops and was awarded an NEA artist grant to support her current work in creative nonfiction. Sheree teaches composition, creative writing, fiction workshop, and African American literature at St. Petersburg College in Florida.  

This week we talked to J. Bob Alotta: filmmaker, media activist, and Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She tells us about Astraea's incredible work across the globe, and reminds us of the importance of making ourselves uncomfortable if we want to meaningfully dismantle segregation and oppression. We gear up for the March for Our Lives this weekend and give the Golden Pantsuit to the new Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue. Subscribe and listen today!

This week we talked to J. Bob Alotta: filmmaker, media activist, and Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She tells us about Astraea's incredible work across the globe, and reminds us of the importance of making ourselves uncomfortable if we want to meaningfully dismantle segregation and oppression. We gear up for the March for Our Lives this weekend and give the Golden Pantsuit to the new Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue. Subscribe and listen today!

Join us for a practice to build an altar or sacred space to ground you with Cara Page. You’ll need 10-15 minutes in a space where you’d like to build it: your home, your workplace, the place you’re staying right now. This can be done individually for you or collectively as a group.For your reference as you go collecting your objects as you listen along… Cara asks: Who or what do you honor that keeps you connected to ancestors? Do you have any objects or pictures that you can gather to create a space that helps you to honor ancestors? What objects embody safety for you? What allows you to feel safe in your heart, in your mind, in your body - that gives you permission to feel that no one can harm you? What object would best represent that? What allows you to feel most powerful in your body, mind, or heart? What object represents your resilience? Find something that represents desire. It could be desire for yourself to feel safe, loved, healed - a desire for family or community to be safe, loved, embraced - or it can be a desire you have for collective liberation. This object represents not just want we want to resist, but what we want to create. Gather your objects, and set them up in a place where they won’t be interrupted… someplace you can look at everyday to reground you and help you remember power, resilience, desire, and safety to keep you grounded and connected. Check out episode 8 for the corresponding conversation with Cara and Susan Raffo titled "We Moved Like We Needed Each Other: A Lineage of Healing Justice” to listen to our conversation about the origins of the contemporary framework of healing justice, stories and learnings from early collaborations in the South and at the Atlanta and Detroit US Social Forums, how nothing is just an issue - everything we care about deeply ties to our embodiment, the importance of safety, and the fine lines between ownership, appropriation, co-optation, and trust.**As a brand new podcast, we need you to subscribe, give a 5-star rating, and share a positive review to help us continue. Join us in the sustainability and viability of this project and subscribe, rate, & review now!**ABOUT OUR GUEST: Cara PageCARA PAGE is the Director of Programs at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and most recently was the Executive Director of the Audre Lorde Project. Over the past three decades, she has worked within movements for queer & trans liberation, reproductive justice, healing justice, and racial and economic justice. She is co-founder and former Coordinator of the Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective and former National Director of the Committee on Women, Population & the Environment. For her outstanding achievements in community organizing around the arts and social justice, Page has received awards and fellowships from the National Center for Human Rights & Education and The Rockefeller Foundation. As an Activist-in-Residence at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, Page will deepen her study on historical and contemporary eugenic practices and medical experimentation to shape a public discourse on the historical and contemporary role of eugenic violence as an extension of state control and surveillance on Black & immigrant communities; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming people; people with disabilities; and Women of Color. Through creating political writings, cultural performance and communal forums on these issues she will gather a cohort of healers/health practitioners, cultural workers, organizers, scientists and service providers to transform institutional eugenic practices; and memorialize sites of eugenic practice to bear witness to these atrocities and begin to organize and heal.JOIN THE COMMUNITYSign up for the email list to hear when new episodes drop at www.healingjustice.org Follow us on Instagram @healingjustice, like Healing Justice Podcast on Facebook, and tweet at us @hjpodcast on TwitterWe pay for all costs out-of-pocket and this podcast is 100% volunteer-run. Help us cover our costs by becoming a sponsor at patreon.com/healingjusticeTHANK YOUMixed and produced by Zach Meyer at the COALROOMIntro and Closing music gifted by Danny O’BrienAll visuals contributed by Josiah Werning

In this episode, healing justice leaders Cara Page and Susan Raffo join host Kate Werning for a conversation about the origins of the contemporary framework of healing justice, stories and learnings from early collaborations in the South and at the Atlanta and Detroit US Social Forums, how nothing is just an issue - everything we care about deeply ties to our embodiment, the importance of safety, and the fine lines between ownership, appropriation, co-optation, and trust.PRACTICE: Download the next episode for instructions for a grounding practice of building an altar or sacred space, led by Cara Page. (We release a new conversation every Tuesday, and the corresponding practice on Thursday - so check back then if you don’t see it yet!)** As a brand new podcast, we need you to subscribe, give a 5-star rating, and share a positive review to help us continue. Join us in the sustainability and viability of this project and subscribe, rate, & review now! **Check out the incredible guests and topics we'll be featuring coming up and sign up for the email list to hear when new episodes drop at www.healingjustice.org MEET OUR GUESTS: Cara Page & Susan RaffoCARA PAGE is the Director of Programs at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and most recently was the Executive Director of the Audre Lorde Project. Over the past three decades, she has worked within movements for queer & trans liberation, reproductive justice, healing justice, and racial and economic justice. She is co-founder and former Coordinator of the Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective and former National Director of the Committee on Women, Population & the Environment. For her outstanding achievements in community organizing around the arts and social justice, Page has received awards and fellowships from the National Center for Human Rights & Education and The Rockefeller Foundation. As an Activist-in-Residence at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, Page will deepen her study on historical and contemporary eugenic practices and medical experimentation to shape a public discourse on the historical and contemporary role of eugenic violence as an extension of state control and surveillance on Black & immigrant communities; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming people; people with disabilities; and Women of Color. Through creating political writings, cultural performance and communal forums on these issues she will gather a cohort of healers/health practitioners, cultural workers, organizers, scientists and service providers to transform institutional eugenic practices; and memorialize sites of eugenic practice to bear witness to these atrocities and begin to organize and heal.SUSAN RAFFO is of Italian, German, Irish, French-Canadian descent and Anishinabeg-descent. Her people were farmers, stonemasons, union members, and tradespeople. Across all of her family lines are histories of assimilation, passing, and disconnection from home, family, land and history.  She currently lives on Dakota land in its seventh generation of settlement. Susan began to study bodywork in 2005 and struggled to feel that this work was as politically relevant as community organizing, but in 2009 she attended the Healing Justice Practice Space at the US Social Forum in Atlanta and it changed her life. For the first time she found movement people, radical people, social justice people, who were  interested in the places where systems of power and oppression were held in the tissues of the individual body as well as within systems and communities. Susan is interested in work that refuses to separate how we individually connect with life from how we collectively claim our lives. She works towards the end of the medical industrial complex and wants to lift up practices and traditions that have been co-opted or forced into disappearance. She is trained in multiple forms of craniosacral therapy, as well as in Global Somatics (a form of Body Mind Centering). Her practice is based on deep listening and working with the body, supporting the conditions for shifting deeply held (sometimes generational and historical) patterns that show up as pain, anxiety, stress, and disconnectedness. Susan is also a writer, having published Queerly Classed in 1995 and Restricted Access in 1997. Right now she is blogging about healing justice and liberation work at https://susanraffo.blogspot.com, and is currently building out www.susanraffo.com. ​   REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE / FURTHER RESOURCES - Healing Justice at the US Social Forum: A report from Atlanta, Detroit & Beyond (the report by Susan & Cara we refer to in the conversation) - Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective needs statement & strategies - Susan’s healing justice blog - People’s Movement Center in Minneapolis, where Susan practices - More from Cara Page’s performative body of work on anti-Eugenics and the medical industrial complex: performance installations in partnership with the Asian Pacific American Institute at NYU here & here, and a video in collaboration with the disability justice performance troupe, Sins Invalid - Healing Justice Practice Spaces: A How-To Guide   JOIN THE COMMUNITYCheck out the incredible guests and topics we'll be featuring coming up and sign up for the email list to hear when new episodes drop at www.healingjustice.orgFollow us on Instagram @healingjustice, like Healing Justice Podcast on Facebook, and tweet at us @hjpodcast on TwitterWe pay for all costs out-of-pocket and this podcast is 100% volunteer-run. Help us cover our costs by becoming a sponsor at patreon.com/healingjusticeTHANK YOUThis podcast is mixed and produced by Zach Meyer at the COALROOMIntro and closing music gifted by Danny O’BrienAll visuals contributed by Josiah WerningPhoto of Susan by Ryan Stopera

This week we revisit a show from the archives, Adaku Utah, founder of healing collective Harriet's Apothecary, and J Bob Alotta, executive director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, which supports grassroots LGBTQ efforts across the globe. Utah and Alotta discuss what healing and healing justice would look like for communities under attack and in particular, for trans women of color and gender non conforming people. It's not enough to fund direct action or leadership training, say our guests; activist organizations have a responsibility to help their concerned communities heal from trauma, and to empower them towards fellowship and autonomy. Adaku Utah is a master herbalist, educator, and artist who is "armed with the legacies of a long line of healers, witches, priestesses and fearless women who refused to shut up." J Bob Alotta is a filmmaker, global activist, and one of the organizers of the Women's March on Washington.

The chorus for radical action demands a versatile effort: it needs people power, initiative, and funding, but if we're caught between offense and defense, how do we take time to insure the well-being of our most vulnerable communities?   The Laura Flanders show this week features Adaku Utah, founder of healing collective Harriet's Apothecary, and J Bob Alotta, executive director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, which supports grassroots LGBTQ efforts across the globe. Utah and Alotta discuss what healing and healing justice would look like for communities under attack and in particular, for trans women of color and gender non conforming people. It's not enough to fund direct action or leadership training, say our guests; activist organizations have a responsibility to help their concerned communities heal from trauma, and to empower them towards fellowship and autonomy. Adaku Utah is a master herbalist, educator, and artist who is "armed with the legacies of a long line of healers, witches, priestesses and fearless women who refused to shut up." J Bob Alotta is a filmmaker, global activist, and one of the organizers of the Women's March on Washington. Subscirbe to the weekly podcast, access the transcripts and to watch the TV show including the videos referenced in today's show go to: http://LauraFlanders.com Sign up for the show's newsletter to find out about the upcoming May Day coverage.

“The Feminist Wire” called her a “Feminist we Love!  But the world knows J. Bob Alotta as the Executive Director at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a global foundation based in NYC that provides critical resources to LGBTQI organizations and individuals around the world. Bob is a lifelong activist and an accomplished filmmaker with a track record of leading exponential organizational growth and capacity building through visionary management and fundraising. She builds strong partnerships with diverse communities, grantee partners, donors, institutional funders, and corporate stakeholders. For two decades Bob has worked diligently to bring the margins to the center. She is a friend and comrade to many across the globe. She is also one of the many radical-feminist-queer individuals who walks the talk of intersectionality as an artist, activist, and philanthropist.  Alotta was one of 50 speakers in January, 2017 at the Women's March on Washington rally in Washington, D.C. In a nutshell she’s a globetrotting, LGBTQI, feminist, community building, filmmaking bad ass building community and leading a new wave of activist/philanthropist across the country and the world. 

Katherine Acey, 65 years old, is a life-long radical social change activist who has stood up, with love, to fight intersecting injustices, whether they’re about gender, race, class or other fissures. She was the Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice for over 20 years. She’s been an unstoppable force for creating funding and attention for LGBTQ priorities for many decades and, most recently, was the Executive Director of the GRIOT Circle, a people of color LGBTQ elders organization.  Now, a senior research fellow at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, Katherine is exploring a new topic, “What’s Age Got to Do With It?”. Want to find out? Listen to our interview with Katherine now!

The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is the only philanthropic organization working exclusively to advance LGBTQI human rights around the globe. The Foundation supports brilliant and brave grantee partners in the U.S. and internationally who challenge oppression and seed change. Astraea works for racial, economic, social, and gender justice, because we all deserve to live our lives freely, without fear, and with dignity. On May 16, 2014 the Astraea Foundation will present the 2014 Fueling the Frontlines Awards.  The  recognizes activists and organizations whose brave and brilliant work on the cutting edge of LGBTQI Fueling the Frontlines Award  issues inspires movements and generates significant advances for our communities. This year’s Awards will celebrate the life and legacy of pioneering Chicago LGBT activist Vernita Gray. The evening will also honor Tracy Baim, Publisher and executive editor of Windy City Media Group. & co-founder of Windy City Times and Julio Rodriguez, president of the Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action both for their lifetime of activism.