Our differences are polarities between which we can spark possibilities for a future we cannot even now imagine, when we acknowledge that we share a unifying vision which supposes a future where we all may flourish, as well as a living earth upon which to support our choices --Audre Lorde--
Dear Community Members and Supporters,
2009 was a year of year of vision and victories for the Audre Lorde Project (ALP) and for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (LGBTSTGNC) People of Color. Our success over the past year is due to the support of friends like you, who have enabled ALP to develop into an organization that can serve as a visible and significant resource for LGBTSTGNC communities or color in New York City, and beyond. ALP needs your continued support!
The November 9th Wall Street journal article on charitable giving highlights the challenges of fundraising over the coming years "It's hard to overstate the crisis facing charitable giving today... At the same time, our depressed economy is exacerbating this crisis and making it all the more crucial that we address it. A severe reduction in available public and private funds has put many important nonprofit groups, especially at the local level, in grave danger." (WSJ Article Nov. 9th 2009)
At ALP we believe in raising funds from within our own communities as a part of building power and investment within our organization. join our donation Circle of Friends by making a contribution to ALP. A gift of any amount provides critical support to our work for economic and social justice for LGBTSTGNC People of Color. You can donate online today through Network For Good or by filling out our simple contribution form (in PDF format) attached to this email and mail in your gift.
You can also make a monthly pledge to ALP. You can do this online via Network For Good or via mail. We’ll charge your credit debit card each month with the amount you request. Imagine after a year, a contribution of $25 per month becomes an annual donation of $300!
For years ALP has been a place to help us keep our imaginations and organizing strategies grounded within our own realities and libratory hopes, and not those dictated by corporations. Given that LGBTSTGNC communities of color are often the most barred from access to resources we have sought to strengthen and deepen our work at ALP
· This past Spring, ALP’s SOS Collective also worked with other Brooklyn organizations to provide support and mobilize communities when 2 community members were assaulted and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse by police officers at the IFE Lounge in Crown Heights Brooklyn. Over 250 people to protest this incident, and won a major victory when through community pressure, we got the DA to drop all charges.
· 60-70% Trans and Gender Non-Conforming communities are un/under employed due to intense discrimination and oppression. Many rely on public assistance for basic survival needs – such as housing, food, and health care. Over the last year, TransJustice pulled together a committee of organizations together over the last year and worked with HRA to develop a new procedure to prevent transphobic discrimination. After much organizing and community pressure – we were told by HRA that it should go to the Commissioner for final signature any day now.
· ALP continued to organize for the rights of LGBTSTGNC immigrant communities of color both locally and nationally, which has included ALP’s participation in the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), a national network of grassroots immigrant rights organizations in which we are still one of the only LGBT immigrant groups. We also continued to provide ongoing information and referrals for LGBTST Immigrants of color.
· ALP supported the POC Leaders Roundtable a Network of nearly 40 LGBTSTGNC POC groups in NYC. Over the past year this network held community listening sessions and developed a long-term plan, which seeks to increase the overall sustainability of the network through activities such as training for trainers, documentation of history and developing resource manuals.
· ALP convened our second annual “Fighting Burnout Retreat” which focuses on how we can bring our “whole-selves” to the table and engage in social justice work that is sustainable for ourselves, our own bodies as well as our communities.
· Last, ALP completed a new strategic plan based assessment of our work, community needs and the current political context. Over the next few years in addition to our ongoing organizing we will focus on building and expanding our base as widely as possible, raising our visibility, increasing communication about our work, and developing and implementing a sustainable infrastructure – most recent shift is to a co-director model. Over the next year you will be hearing more about these changes.
As a supporter and community member of ALP, you are part of an important resource within our organization. ALP needs you and many more people to help. We need you to march with us for TransJustice; we need you to keep expanding the conversations we have in Central Brooklyn that tell our real stories and struggles with violence. And most of all we need your liberated imaginations to help us deepen and expand our membership programs as we join with our allies around the city, country, and world to lift up the actual agendas which will reshape the political landscape to come.
All the best from
ALP Board
Kim Ford, Board Co-Chair, Shaheen Nazerali, Board Co-Chair, Kian Goh, Capital Campaign Committee Chair, Marcos Gutierrez, Treasurer, Omer Shah, Lindsey Charles, Jasbir Puar
ALP Staff
Alex Bell, Administration & Development Assistant; Collette Carter, Co-Director; Ejeris Dixon, PC: Safe Outside the System Collective; Bran Fenner, PC: Leaders Roundtable; Kris Hayashi, Co-Director; Jovan Sage; PC: Membership; Lolan Sevilla, PC Admin & Development/ Leaders Roundtable; Mya Laylani Vazquez, PA: TransJustice