Stonewall launches Ettelbrick Family Project

The Ettelbrick Project for LGBTQ Family Recognition at Stonewall, funded by the Ford Foundation, is a public education and community organizing initiative with a focus on writing and publishing articles on LGBTQ family issues, and on providing platforms for community conversation and advocacy on behalf of our families, their rights and recognition. Terry Boggis, who has been involved in serving, organizing and advocating for LGBTQ families for more than 20 years (and was Director of Family Programs at the LGBT Community Center for 17 years) joined the staff at Stonewall in February to lead the effort.

The Ettelbrick Family Project has several purposes:

- To recapture and reclaim a vision for more expansive family recognition, one informed by a  feminist perspective and grounded in the lived experience of real LGBTQ families

- To bring a vision for broader family diversity, definitions, recognitions, protections and understanding to renewed prominence

- To engage, re-engage, and reinvigorate LGTQ communities and our allies on these topics

- To advance the cause of preservation of domestic partnership, civil union, and other non-marital family recognitions as vehicles for family protection outside of marriage

- Top recount LGBT activist history vis-à-vis our families

- To honor and preserve the legacy of Paula Ettelbrick , especially her groundbreaking legal advocacy work on behalf of LGBTQ families

To offer insight, suggestions and support to further the Project, an Advisory Committee has been convened. Members of the Ettelbrick Family Project Advisory Committee are:

John D’Emilio – Professor of History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Illinois and Chicago; former Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute (NGLTF); author of Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the US; Lost Prophet: Bayard Rustin and His Quest for Peace and Justice in America, among others.

Jill Dolan – Annan Professor in English, Professor of Theater, and Director of the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University; former Executive Director, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), CUNY Graduate Center

Nan Hunter – Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Georgetown University Law School

Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins, MD – Assistant Professor of Adolescent Medicine, OB/GYN and Reproductive Science, Mt. Sinai

Terry McGovern – Senior Program Officer, Ford Foundation (human rights related HIV/AIDS issues focus). Former assistant professor of clinical population, family health and socio-medical sciences at Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, where she also directed the Women’s Health and Human Rights Advocacy Project. Founder and former Executive Director, HIV Law Project.

Tey Meadow – Sociologist and Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Princeton University

Nancy Polikoff – Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law; author, Beyond (Straight and Gay)( Marriage: Valuing All Families Under the Law

Doug Robinson – Vice President, Citigroup; former Co-Chair, Center Kids, the family project of the LGBT Community Center

Fred Rooney – Founding Director, Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN) and Director of External Relations, CUNY Law School

Judith Stacey – Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and Sociology, New York University, author, Unhitched: Love, Marriage and Family Values and Brave New Families: Stories of Domestic Upheaval in Late 20th Century America

Carmen Vazquez – Coordinator, LGBT Health and Human Services Unit of the New York State AIDS Institute. Former Deputy Executive Director, Empire State Pride Agenda and former Director of Public Policy at the LGBT Community Center

The Ettelbrick Family Project will present its first panel, “Ethics and LGBTQ Family Formation,” for Stonewall Quartershare members on Tuesday, April 17. For more information, please contact Terry Boggis at 212-367-1537 or via email at terry.boggis@stonewallfoundation.org.

Stonewall Names Paul Hyman Executive Director

Stonewall Community Foundation is pleased to announce that following an extensive national search, Paul Hyman will join the organization as Executive Director. During his successful seven-year tenure as the Executive Director of Pride Center at Equality Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Hyman transformed both the organization and the community. He expanded program offerings, relocated the Center into a new river-front facility and amplified its impact by harnessing the power of a broad range of local donors and stakeholders.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am thrilled that Paul will lead the next chapter of Stonewall Community Foundation," said Matthew Ryan, Board President. "Paul understands the need for innovation in the ever-evolving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) landscape and is committed to the Foundation's mission of strengthening our community from within. His ability to articulate a vision of what's possible for LGBTQ New York City and build strategic relationships to help realize that vision makes him a perfect fit for our organization."

Hyman will succeed Interim Executive Director Richard Burns and will assume responsibilities in early April. He holds a BA from the University of Connecticut, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Social Work from Florida International University.

Fall 2011 Grants Announcements

In October 2011, Stonewall Community Foundation issued a Request for Proposals to over 240 community leaders representing a host of LGBTQ organizations and programs throughout New York City. The RFP was an invitation to apply for one-year, project-specific grants ranging from $5,000 to $15,000. Our focus this year was on strategic partnerships, groups coming together to protect, improve, and enrich the lives of LGBTQ people in New York City. Given our current economic and political climate, solidarity and resource sharing are invaluable if not essential to our success.

It was evident from the response that this theme resonated within our community. We received a total of 19 proposals from 57 groups who have found innovative ways to integrate their work and maximize their impact. After careful review of these, recommendations were made to the Stonewall Board of Directors.  The list of fall grantees is below. 

We offer a special thanks to the distinguished local leaders who comprise our Advisory Committee: Charlie Finlay, Ken Goody, Steve Foster, Alex DelValle, Sharon Stapel, Lolan Sevilla, Mark Sexton, Barbara Raab, and Nancy Ordover. Their thoughtful participation in this process ensures that we operate with integrity to our mission as the public charity for all of New York City's LGBTQ community!

Streetwise and Safe | Audre Lorde Project - $13,000
These two organizations will partner to challenge the discriminatory and often abusive policing practices the NYPD employs against lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, transgender and gender non-conforming people of color. 

Northeast Two-Spirit Society | Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS - $13,000
NE2SS, with APICHA, will develop and implement a training that will enable six prominent social and health service agencies in New York City to better serve their American Indian two-spirit clients.

Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York | Q-Wave | South Asian LGBT Association - $5,000
This grant will improve the capacity of these three organizations to work together and find cost efficiencies as they continue to improve the lives of LGBTQ Asian and Pacific Islander New Yorkers. 

Supportive Children's Advocacy Network | Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center - $11,000
This partnership will offer LGBTQ youth in East Harlem a comprehensive range of critical health and mental health services.

In Retrospect: Stonewall Honors 2011

Thanks to everyone who made Stonewall Honors 2011 a huge success! We congratulate once again our 2011 honorees: Paula Ettelbrick & Family, the Alotta-Reagon Family, the Marino-Thomas Family and the Grover-Watson Family. They have inspired a tremendous amount of positive social change for LGBTQ families in New York City and beyond, and for that we are all extremely thankful!

The Paula Ettelbrick Memorial Fund

A memorial service for Stonewall's immediate past Executive Director Paula Ettelbrick was held on Monday, November 14, 2011. The service took place at 6:30pm at the Fourth Unitarian Universalist Society. Paula passed away on the morning of Friday, October 7, 2011 surrounded by friends and family after a heroic battle with ovarian cancer. As a lifelong advocate for LGBTQ people across the globe, Paula will be remembered for her leadership roles at many organizations, including Lambda Legal, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Stonewall Community Foundation.

A fund in honor of Paula has been established at the Stonewall Community Foundation. The Paula Ettelbrick Memorial Fund shall be a grantmaking fund dedicated to the support of LGBTQ family programming and lesbian feminist issues. As with all Stonewall grants, grantmaking decisions will be made by a community-based funding panel. Contributions to the fund are now being accepted and are fully tax-deductible.

To make a contribution in memory of Paula please click here or mail to:
Stonewall Community Foundation, Paula Ettelbrick Fund
446 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001

Note: When using the online form, please indicate in the appropriate field that the gift is being made in honor of Paula Ettelbrick.          

To read Stonewall's news release highlighting Paula's life as a pioneering champion for LGBTQ rights, click here.

Record-Breaking Achievement for the Stonewall Swim!

On Saturday, August 13th, 49 remarkably brave and amazingly fit swimmers swam from Sayville to the Fire Island Pines to raise money for the Stonewall Community Foundation.  Fifty-one kayakers also made the 3.5 mile trek across the Great South Bay to help support the swimmers and provide them with personal encouragement.  Together, all of this year's participants raised a record-breaking $155,000 !  Thanks to everyone who was involved.

The Stonewall Vision Dinner 2011- An Affair to Remember...