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A Tribute to Katherine Acey
20-year Executive Director of Astrea, honored.
by Isa Goldberg

On Wednesday, Oct 10 when friends and family gathered to celebrate Katherine Acey’s 20 years as Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, it was laughter and appreciation that prevailed. There were easily three generations of feminists, young grantees, people from all walks of life, and supporters from both coasts who had gathered to pay tribute to this champion of lesbian causes.

Best known for her radical efforts in achieving social justice for women, Acey was cited for her “decisiveness and radical vision” by long-time feminist Cheryl Clarke. In one of the many hilarious moments, Marjorie Hill toasted Katherine with her “favorite quote” from Dr. Martin Luther King, “We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear”.

Moving right along the dyke theme, Dr. Hill and others enumerated Acey’s accomplishments as an activist and advocate of social change. To put it simply, Michael Seltzer, a pioneer in the field of nonprofit management and philanthropy commented, “Katherine has made the world a better place.” From 1982 when she served as the Associate Director of the North Star Fund to her leadership role in the Women’s Funding Network, to her participation on the boards of Women in the Arts, the Center for Anti-Violence Education and MADRE among others, Katherine’’s commitment to philanthropic endeavors seems boundless.

At Astraea where she began as a Board Member in 1987, Acey has been at the helm of the organization, generating grants to 181 organizations in 99 cities and 39 countries, issuing $1.9 million in grants this year alone. As a result of her efforts and tireless commitment, Astraea has recently been gifted an anonymous $1.5 million.

Click here to read this article on gaycitynews.com.

All Toast, No Roast
By: WINNIE McCROY

More than 200 people gathered in the penthouse of the 1199 Conference Center on 42nd Street on October 10 to honor the 20 years of service executive director Katherine Acey has given to the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Although the event was billed as a “toast and roast,” it was all cheer and no jeer for this icon of the social justice movement.

“I was almost at a loss for words; the whole evening kind of took my breath away,” Acey said in an interview the following day. “To see so many old friends, colleagues, people who have made such a tremendous difference in my life and work; it was so great to have my family there, and friends from the West Coast and Chicago.”

Among the many community leaders, activists, and artists who took to the podium to laud Acey was Dr. Marjorie Hill, CEO of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

“Of the many accomplishments, the many lives, the many wonderful things Katherine has done to inspire not only those of us in this room, in this city, in this country, but in the world, the one thing I want to share is when Astraea came out,” said Hill of the move by Acey early in her tenure to openly identify Astraea in its name as a lesbian-focused organization.

“Now some of us remember what a traumatizing, agonizing, totally terrorizing event it was for those on the board, staff, and organization, but for those of us on the outside, it was pure heart. For all of us in that room, it was really Katherine’s tenacity, her absolute commitment to integrity, her absolute determination to be who she is, to celebrate whoever and however we wanted to be and to call it like she saw it.”

“My favorite quote of all time came from Martin Luther King. And Dr. King said, ‘We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.’ You were just what Dr. King had in mind,” said Hill, to waves of applause.

Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal, thanked Acey for the collegial and mutually enriching relationship they have had throughout the years. He was grateful for her single-mindedness of purpose.

“Katherine has brought so much to all of our collective work because of the politics she brings, the humanity she brings, her progressive politics, what she stands for, the stuff she keeps right up front and on the table so that no one else can avoid it, so it can’t get lost among all the busyness of fundraising and paying the rent and all the things that have to happen in our regular work,” said Cathcart. “I know I speak for a lot of people when I say… that I am a better person and a better leader for knowing and working with Katherine for all these years, and I hope there are more to come.”

It was no surprise that so many leaders in the LGBT community were among the crowd at last Wednesday’s event. Astraea has a long history of funding LGBT human rights organizations, and is the largest lesbian grant-making foundation in the world.

When Acey joined the organization, it was raising about $100,000 a year; this year alone, Astraea gave more than $1.9 million in grants to 181 organizations in 99 cities and 39 countries.

When Gay City News last spoke to Acey in 2005, she mentioned funding the group had given during the past year to the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights; the Audre Lorde Project, the community center serving queer people of color in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; and Patlatonalli, a Guadalajara-Mexico based advocacy group for lesbian families.

The group’s Web site includes profiles of a diverse group of grantees, including ASWAT, an organization in Haifa, Israel that provides a safe space and resources for lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and intersex Palestinian women; Mujeres al Borde (Women on the Edge), a social organizing and community-building group in Bogotá, Colombia; the Appalachian Women’s Alliance in Floyd, Virginia established in 1993 to combat the poverty, violence, and now homophobia as well that keeps isolated Appalachian women-many of them lesbians-without power or voice; the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a New York City collective that engages in impact litigation and public education on behalf of transgendered and intersex people; and J-FLAG, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, the only organization in that island nation challenging the violence and legal restrictions facing queer people.

Among the highlights for Acey in the past year was the group’s Dallas retreat, initiating a United States movement-building initiative, and experiencing growth among Astraea’s staff and board.

Acey said that the community in Dallas welcomed activists and donor activists from around the world to talk about “how to create movements, crossing the class divide, and what it means to be a progressive queer philanthropist.

One of Astraea’s anonymous donors made a multi-year pledge there for the next 12 years that will result in a couple of million dollars, said Acey.

Another highlight in Acey’s recent past was helping to build the political and organizational capacity of groups doing social change work in the LGBT community. Astraea gave seven groups $50,000 a year for three years to organize policy reform. They will help the groups shape their agenda, look at issues of capacity and build resources, both human and financial. These groups, many of which are working within communities of color and youth on issues of leadership development, will convene this week in New Jersey.

Acey is also pleased that Astraea’s staff and board are growing. Always quick to share the credit with her peers, she said, “I am delighted to be working with such a committed, talented, and gifted group of people.

They’ve helped me to grow and pushed me and the organization to new heights.”

The recent addition of an associate director of grant-making and a deputy director brings the Astraea staff to 17.

Acey had similar praise for all the speakers and attendees at the event, and expressed satisfaction that so many diverse people of all ages and sexual orientations were sipping her signature drink, “The Acey,” and building bridges.

“It was so great to see people having fun,” said Acey. “The energy in the room was great, people enjoyed seeing each other and coming together for celebration, not just of me but all of us together. That’s one of the beauties of Astraea, that we do cross so many communities. It is heartwarming to have all that love and give it right back.”

This reporter last took a look at Astraea in the May 25-31, 2005 issue of Gay City News, “Lesbian Powerhouse of Funding.” The online version can be viewed at https://204.2.109.187/gcn_421/lesbianpowerhouseof.html

Roasted and Toasted at Astraea
Lesbian Foundation distributes grants, creates networks.
By Erline Andrews

Activist powerhouse Katherine Acey, looking cool and chic in a many-colored striped suit, smiles as she talks about being roasted next week.

““I’’m looking forward to it,”” says Acey, seated in the conference room at the Manhattan headquarters of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the grant-distributing organization she’’s headed for two decades.

She was, in fact, its first paid employee when the organization changed from being staffed entirely of volunteers. At that time, she’d been working unpaid with Astraea for four years.

Next week Astraea will thank Acey for leadership. The event—–set to take place Oct. 10 in New York City—–will take an unusual format. There will be the expected accolades, yes. But there’’ll be digs too. The event has been dubbed a “roast and toast.”

“”I love the idea of a roast,”” says Acey, “”because I love humor, and I think it’’s very important that we keep a sense of humor doing this work.””

It doesn’’t seem that Acey has to worry about maintaining her composure while enduring the barbs.

A community activist and volunteer since her youth, Acey, 57, has built of an impressive cache of goodwill and respect through the myriad organizations she’’s worked and been otherwise affiliated with.

“The lesbian community, and indeed how lesbians are viewed in the world, has changed dramatically since 1987. “Katherine Acey’’s phenomenal leadership and commitment to social justice has been a key part of that change,”” writes Marjorie Hill, PhD, the CEO of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, in one of many tributes posted on Astraea’’s Web site in anticipation of the roast and toast.

Acey, who grew up in Utica, N.Y., the older of two daughters in a Lebanese-American household, came to Astraea after many years on what she called the “planning and developing” side of activism. She’’d worked with another foundation—–the North Star Fund–—for five years before becoming Astraea’’s executive director.

She values the ability to affect many different organizations at once, she says, particularly groups from communities that would find it difficult to get help otherwise.

““Social change happens at many different levels and requires many different strategies; it requires the participation of many different people,”” Acey says. “”Many of our groups are building a base and trying to promote policy reform.””

About Astraea
The Astraea Foundation, named for the Greek goddess of justice, was founded in 1977 to address the specific needs of lesbians, particularly lesbians of color. Its reach has since spread to LGBT advocacy groups around the world, and it boasts of being the only foundation solely dedicated to funding LGBTI organizations in the U.S. and internationally. It distributed more than $1.9 million in grants so far this year, including a portion dedicated to lesbian writers that were the first of their kind when Astraea started them in 1990.

Among Astraea’’s beneficiaries are the Jamaican gay rights collective J-Flag, the Palestinian lesbian group Aswat, and the Virginia-based Appalachian Women’’s Alliance.

Besides distributing money, Astraea provides a platform for groups to learn from each other through regular retreats and other gatherings and Astraea’’s newsletters and annual reports.

““We’’re able to communicate with each other and share best practices because of the kind of support Astraea was able to give us,”” says Andrea Densham, the interim executive director of the National Lesbian Health Organization, another Astraea grantee. “”We were able to develop a network and to make lesbian health a national discourse in a way that just simply wasn’t possible if we all were struggling alone. Astraea gave us a megaphone as it were.”

Much of the growth in Astraea’s influence and grant-making ability happened under Acey’s direction.

Gathering donations and support is difficult for any organization; it’s particularly difficult for one assisting a population still so misunderstood and even ignored in much of the world, including the United States. But in the past two decades Acey’s observed a shifting of attitudes and the evolution of an environment more receptive to the work she’s doing, a change brought about partly through the operation of organizations helped by Astraea.

“They have many challenges, but they’re flourishing,” Acey says of Astraea’s grantees. (This year the foundation gave financial assistance to 181 organizations in 39 countries.) “They’re working in communities, but they’re also having national and, in some cases, international impact.”

One of the pleasures of her job, she says, has been seeing LGBT movements emerge in places where previously they had been unimaginable.

“I feel privileged,” she says, “to be in this work for so many years.”

Toast and Roast of Katherine Acey, 6:30–9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 10, The 1199 Conference Center, 330 W. 42nd St. For information, visit their web site at Astraeafoundation.org

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100 Women We Love
by Melody Wells, editor

Wendy Sealey
While pursuing a teaching career and doctorate at Stanford, Sealey had a moment. Though she had studied at several prestigious East Coast schools, Sealey abruptly left academia realizing her skills and talents were best suited for non-profits. The 37-year-old Staten Island-raised Harlem resident became the lifeblood of the Harlem Textile Works. When it lost funding, she set inner-city kids on a path to success as Director of Professional Advancement Opportunities at Prep for Prep. Now, as Director of Development for The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, she’’s expanding their donor base so more grants can be made. For Astraea’s 30th anniversary, Sealey will continue “cultivating the under-30 crowd” for its donor pool, ensuring a crop of young professionals to lead Astraea to its 60th year. She’s proud that Astraea “is often one of the first funders for many of our grantee organizations. We’re making a difference in people’s lives.” –MW