Creating Change Conference 2008
February 6–10, 2008

Day-Long Institutes

Wednesday, February 6

Opening Session for All Participants
Access and Liberation is the political theme for all five Institute sessions. What we mean by liberation is captured in a quote by an Aboriginal woman: “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let’s work together.” Each of the Wednesday Institutes will focus on liberation and what our movements need to do to move beyond achieving equality. We will also be exploring how access limitations to resources, physical space, information, power, and community are used as a tool to oppress People of Color, LGBT people, transgender people, disabled people, women, young and old people. Access impacts many communities in various and pervasive ways and we will be exploring how and why some of us benefit from access while others do not. Join us!

Presenters of Opening Session: Paulina Hernandez is a cha-cha girl, artist, community organizer and activist from Veracrúz, Mexico. She lives in Durham, NC and is the Co-Director of Southerners on New Ground, having joined the staff after coordinating the youth activism program at the Highlander Research & Education Center for over four years. She also serves on the board of the Third Wave Foundation, a feminist foundation that supports movement work involving and led by young women and Trans folks. Paulina has a background in farm worker and immigrant rights organizing, anti-violence work, and cultural work.

Mab Segrest is a scholar, writer and activist with three decades experience in feminist, anti-racist, and lesbian/gay organizing. Currently, she chairs the Gender and Women’s Studies Department at Connecticut College where she teaches courses in Gender and Women’s Studies as well as a first-year seminar on post-colonial approaches to Southern literature. She left the academy in the early 1980s to work full-time in social movements for the next decade. She helped to found North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence and worked in that organization from 1983 to 1990 to rally citizens of the state against virulent neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan activity and an epidemic of hate violence. Segrest’s 1995 book, "Memoir of a Race Traitor," narrates this experience. It was named an Outstanding Book on Human Rights in North America and was Editor’s Choice for the Lambda Literary Awards.

Institute Sessions

Start with the Fundamentals: Anti-Racism Institute for New Activists
Learn the fundamentals of anti-racism work and go home with tools, resources and a deeper understanding of this critical work. You will learn about race-based privilege, anti-racism language and definitions, how to be an ally, accountability, and how to see and name racism in your work and/or your organization. Develop an anti-racist framework and apply it to your organizing! This session is intended for white people who are newly exploring the topic. People of color are welcome to attend.

Building Community and Solidarity from the Inside Out: Anti-Racism Institute for Intermediate Activists
Add to your “anti-racism tool box.” Deepen your commitment to anti-racism. You will learn how to challenge the barriers between white people that get in the way of deeper and more effective anti-racism work; anti-racism organizing strategies, practices and models that lead to deeper multi-racial alliances; how to use your anti-racism lens and making the connections between identities and issues. Intended for white people engaged in anti-racism/anti-oppression work for 2-5 years and have attended two or more fundamentals anti-racism trainings or classes. People of color are welcome to attend.

Finding Our Kin Folk: People of Color Organizing Institute for New Activists
Specifically for people of color who would like to explore their life experiences as LGBT people of color. This institute is for people of color who want to name, share and strategize about the issues of identity and community that impact our lives. This is a multi-racial people of color space; issues facing people of color within and between communities will be discussed. This session will focus on skills for community building.

Building Bridges Across Our Communities: People of Color Organizing Institute for Intermediate Activists
This day-long Institute is intended for people of color who have considerable experience organizing in and with communities of color and want to deepen their work in our own community (ies) and/or build stronger bridges across communities of color. This Institute will focus heavily on both identity-based (e.g. Brown/Black; light skinned/dark skinned) and issue-based (e.g. war; reproductive justice; colonialism) organizing strategies. We will also be addressing issues of privilege and how all forms of oppression connect. Intended to create a multi-racial people of color space and, as a result, issues facing people of color within and between communities will be discussed. Intended for people of color who have 2-5 years of organizing experience.

Organizing at the Intersections: For Seasoned Activists
This interactive day-long Institute is only for seasoned (by either age or experience) anti-oppression organizers and trainers. This strategy and movement building session is for no more than 25 people and it will be intentionally multi-racial, multi-identity and multi-issue. Participants will work together throughout this session to develop a vision for broader intersectional work and to share best practices, challenges and movement building strategies. You must pre-register for this session.

Facilitation Team: Audre Lorde Project, Southerners on New Ground, Queers for Economic Justice, The Task Force Disability Oppression and Access Committee, The Task Force First Nations/Indigenous/Two Spirit Collective

Thursday, February 7

Being a Board Member – Getting it Right!
Am I doing this right? Too often, members of Boards of Directors operate without the fundamental knowledge or experience to take the authority and responsibility that is endowed only to the Board of Directors. The uncertainty this creates can lead to organizational disaster at its worst and personal frustration at the least. You will learn to simplify your board experience, build your confidence, and make board service the highlight of your day.

You will review the legal requirements of board participation and how these translate into board roles and responsibilities. You will also learn practical skills and be trained in four basic areas of board responsibility and activity: planning, budgeting and financial analysis and oversight, working with the Chief Executive/Executive Director, and funding. You will learn how engaging in these four basic responsibilities creates a leadership track for future members and specifically for your Board of Directors. You will walk out of the Institute with a board book chock full of tools to use in the workshop and at home.

Community Center Training Institute
This full-day pre-conference Institute for community center staff, board members and volunteers will focus on the unique fundraising challenges faced by community centers. This interactive training session on fundraising methodologies will assist centers as they seek to diversify their funding base. Topics include the Logic Model, creating a Major Donor Program on a limited budget, direct mail and developing an Annual Fund program. The sessions will be appropriate for all organization sizes and experience levels.

Presenters: Dolph Ward Goldenberg, Executive Director, William Way LGBT Community Center, Philadelphia; Tony Plakas, President, HomeRule Strategies, LLC (formerly Executive Director of Compass Community Center), Lake Worth, FL; Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald, Director of Development, Chicago Chamber Musicians (formerly Director of Individual Giving at Center on Halsted)

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Lives: Advocating for Trans Health Care
Health care is the cutting edge of transgender rights! Trans people’s health care needs are nearly universally ignored by every health care system, but that is starting to change. Health insurance companies, public health care systems like Medicaid and Medicare, university health systems, community health clinics, and employers (including our own LGBT nonprofits) generally deny coverage for trans health care needs. Join activists who have worked with university healthcare systems, governments including Medicaid agencies, nonprofits and unions to explore the different ways to advocate, in small and large ways, to win decent health care for transgender people. All are welcome.

Presenters: Mara Keisling, Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality, Washington, DC; Andre Wilson, Health Access Program Manager, National Center for Transgender Equality, Washington, DC; Knoll Larkin, Health Services Coordinator, Affirmations, Detroit, MI; Masen Davis, Executive Director, Transgender Law Center, San Francisco; Cole Thaler, Staff Attorney, Transgender Rights Project, Lambda Legal, Atlanta, GA; Lisa Mottet, Transgender Civil Rights Project Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Washington, DC.

Empowering and Working With People of Faith
This day-long Institute is for religious organizers who want to build a more powerful faith-based movement for LGBT equality and for secular activists who want to build stronger partnerships with communities and leaders of faith. As pro-LGBT activists, we face a critical task of organizing around spiritual questions and with allied religious institutions. If we are truly to transform our culture to win full support of the rights of LGBT persons and our families, we must engage and challenge religious-based heterosexism, homophobia and gender-phobia. But here is some good news: an incredible wealth of resources within our religious movements already exists to bring change within religious institutions and the broader society. In the morning, we will take stock of the "state of the movement" within pro-LGBT religious organizing and examine the role of allies and youth and young adults. In the afternoon, we will teach concrete organizing skills for public advocacy and action. We will end our day with a screening of For the Bible Tells Me So followed by Q & A with several of those interviewed in the film. (The film screening is open to all at Creating Change)

Presenters: The Reverend Steve Clapp, Project Director for the Christian Community, Fort Wayne, IN; The Reverend Debra W. Haffner, Director, Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, Westport, CT; Haven Herrin, Director, Soulforce Q: Young Adult Activism, Minneapolis; Pedro Julio Serrano, Communications Coordinator, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, New York, NY; Ann Craig, Director, GLAAD Religion, Faith & Values Program; Rev. Tiffany Steinwert, Cambridge Welcoming Ministries, Cambridge, MA.

Not Just Another “Trans 101”: Engaging Trans Programming for LGBTQ Youth
Participate in a Training of the Trainers session about the National Transgender Education Project (NTEP) youth curriculum. The NTEP youth curriculum is a multi-session modular educational series designed to be an innovative and holistic approach to increasing education, visibility, and acceptance of transgender, gender nonconforming and questioning individuals, as well as to help develop awareness of the needs and issues that affect the transgender community. It will also develop a better understanding of the intersections between these needs, issues and realities and the lives of people who are not transgender. Participants in this interactive Training of the Trainer (TOT) session receive hands-on experience with the modular curriculum and will be prepared to facilitate educational sessions at their home organizations. This curriculum has been tailored to LGBT-serving organizations, specifically youth groups/organizations and GSAs (high school and college) with a target age range for participants of 13-24, but the curriculum can work effectively for any youth-serving organization, such as a youth shelter, or other youth group that does not target LGBT individuals specifically. Project Q staff and youth at the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center developed the curriculum, with their partner organizations the National Youth Advocacy Coalition ( NYAC) and the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GPAC), and a 13-member, 9-state National Youth Review Board. This Institute is targeted to staff, volunteers and leadership at youth-serving organizations. All are welcome.

Presenters: Rachel Coles, Program Coordinator, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center/Project Q, Milwaukee; Meighan Bentz, Program Coordinator, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, Milwaukee; Julie Bock, Director of Programs, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, Milwaukee; Jay Botsford, Program Coordinator, Youth/Transgender, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center/Project Q, Milwaukee.

Community Center Training Institute
This day long Institute intended for community center staff, board members and volunteers will focus on the unique fundraising challenges faced by community centers. Brian Lauterbach of RuffaloCODY (a recognized leader in fundraising for nonprofit organizations) will lead this interactive training session on fundraising methodologies that will assist centers as they seek to diversify their funding base. Topics include creating a development plan & fundraising case statement, annual fund, major donor programs and special events. The sessions will be appropriate for all organization sizes and experience levels. Presented by the National Association of LGBT Community Centers.

Families to the Front: Cross-Issue Social Justice Work Around a Central Family Theme
Family is at the core of the human experience and yet can mean many things. Boiled down, family is the group of people you count on the most, and who count on you, the people who know you best, who stand up for you when no one else will. LGBTQ people know well that family can be chosen. Blood does not define our families, even as it continues to play a major role. Friends can be family. Fellow activists can be family. The language of family is diverse, but translatable across cultures. In instances where there seems to be no common ground, family very well may be the crack in the door.

The organizers of this institute believe that “family” is an effective, productive arena for progressive organizing and social change. By gathering together activists, professionals and interested people with all levels of experience related to family work, we will:

Show how all organizations and activists, whether they identify as family-oriented or not, engage families and family issues in their work.
Teach participants how better to capitalize on the power of family messaging and family-centered organizing.
Overcome the invisibility of family as an arena of progressive social change, especially within the larger LGBTQ and family advocacy communities.

Presented by Family Equality Council.

Presenters: Dustin Kight, Nina Selvaggio and Jennifer Chrisler, Family Equality Council, Boston, MA; Cathy Renna, Leah McElrath and Simon Aronoff, Renna Communications, New York, NY; Sean Kosofsky, Triangle Foundation, Detroit, MI; Judy Appel, Our Family Coalition, San Francisco, CA; Terry Boggis, Center Kids, LGBT Community Center, New York, NY; Arielle Rosen, Family Services Program, LA Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Los Angeles, CA; Claudia Stallman, Lesbian and Gay Family Building Project, Binghamton, NY; Elizabeth Brown and Jean-Marie Navetta, PFLAG, Washington, DC; Beth Teper, COLAGE, San Francisco, CA; Trina Olson, Equality CA, San Francisco; Adam Francoeur, Immigration Equality, New York, NY.

Diverse Strategies for Winning the Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry leaders and experts from national and state organizations explore ways to transform momentum into victories as we press forward state by state toward a nationwide end to exclusion from marriage. Key leaders and emerging activists will consider: How can states that have achieved civil union/domestic partnership win marriage? How can states manage pressures to accept civil union/domestic partnership while advancing the education, organizing, and legislative work toward marriage? How can states with anti-gay constitutional amendments make progress at home, undermine or overcome the amendments, and contribute to the nationwide victory? How can we as a movement work more strategically, more urgently, and on a larger scale to win the most imminent battles that propel us toward full justice nationwide? How do we enlist more individuals, and more non-gay stakeholders, in the national movement for marriage?

Presenter: Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry, New York NY.

LGBT Youth Movement: Off the Bus, Into the Streets!
Social change can't wait for the "movement" bus to pick up the next group to fight for equality. The fight for equality is underway and youth are leading the way. Whether it is letter writing or civil disobedience, every one has a role in socially just and inclusive equality work. It starts with the understanding that "youth" don't need empowerment but rather for "adults" to stop and really listen. With no hierarchy of oppression setting the timetable, we can act now! This day long Institute will provide participants with the tools to ensure your voices are heard at all levels of the movement. Participants will engage in interactive learning activities and a social justice leadership model to challenge actions and beliefs. An extensive Campus Pride resource toolkit will also be given to every participant to continue fanning the fire of change back home. Presented by Campus Pride. This Institute is intended for people 24 and under.

Presenters: Martine McDonald, Naropa University, Campus Pride Camp Graduate 07; Christopher A. Bylone, Campus Pride, Campus Q Team Coordinator; Jessica Pettitt, CampuSpeak Speaker; Shane L. Windmeyer, Executive Director, Campus Pride

Charm School for Activists: Effectively Advocating for Your LGBTI Issue
The LGBTI health movement has developed numerous successful campaigns and strategies to move our agenda forward. Here's your chance to learn from national health advocacy leaders what our health movements can teach us about activism and advocacy. Learn to mobilize the media, build a base of support, develop leadership, and identify the key issues to highlight. Case studies will include lesbian and bi women's health, improving the quality of transgender health care, advocacy around microbicides, and the need for HPV vaccine for LGBTI folks. Working on issues outside of the health arena? We want you to participate in the Charm School, too! At the end of Institute, activists will have formulated a strategy to advocate on the issue of their choice at Creating Change. So, study at the Charm School. We promise a fun day of energizing activism. All are welcome.

Presenters: Chris Bartlett, Consultant, Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy, Chester PA; Julie Ebin, Prevention & Education Programs Manager, Fenway Community Health Center, Boston; Rebecca E. Fox, Executive Director, National Coalition for LGBT Health, Washington DC; Stewart Landers, Senior Consultant, John Snow, Inc. Boston, MA; Diane Sabin, Executive Director, UCSF Lesbian Health & Research Center Associate Director UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, San Francisco, CA; Andre A. Wilson, Trans Health Insurance Consultant, Michigan

First, Class: Economic Justice and Class Issues in the LGBT Movement
As our movement assimilates into the mainstream, many LGBT poor and working class people are left behind by gay organizations that do not address poverty issues. The widening gap between the rich and poor in the U.S., and the increasing corporatization of our movement, requires that we examine the ways in which class privilege and corporate ties affect the work of our community organizations as well as our community’s cultural values. Our goal is to get LGBT activists to think critically about the ways in which economic justice issues are embedded in every issue that the LGBT movement addresses and how they impact LGBT people. We also intend to help participants examine the ways in which class biases and presumptions affect their work, and to strategize about how to better serve LGBT people of all classes. We will spend the morning examining the role that class issues play in our movement, and in the afternoon we will address the poverty and economic justice issues facing LGBT people. Presented by Queers for Economic Justice.

Note: This is not a workshop on how to access benefits/entitlements.

Presenters: Mel Bramyn, lesbian.com, St. Louis, MO; Caitlin Breedlove, Co-Director, Southerners on New Ground, Durham, NC; Sangeeta Budhiraja, Immigrant Rights Coordinator, Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY; Joseph N. DeFilippis, Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY; Debra J East, Lander, WY; Kenyon Farrow, Board Co-Chair, Queers for Economic Justice, New York NY; Reggie Gosset, Welfare Organizer, Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY; Paulina Hernandez, Co-Director, Southerners on New Ground, Durham, NC; Jessica Stern, Human Rights Watch, New York, NY; Jay Toole, Shelter Director, Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY

LGBT Aging: Where Are We Heading, And How Do We Get There?
In 2005, the day-long Institute on Aging took place just prior to the White House Conference on Aging and at the cusp of the 2006 elections. The 2008 SAGE-sponsored day-long Institute will bring us to the present and take us to the future. We’ll begin the morning with a presentation from Amber Hollibaugh, Senior Strategist for the Task Force, looking back on the White House Conference on Aging, and where we are today. Our morning workshops will address practical tools for today’s issues, including breakouts on organizing and advocacy, research and practical application, multi-issue LGBT seniors concerns, and a roundtable for professionals working in LGBT aging. A lunch presentation on the LGBT Baby Boom and its impact on our present and future will be presented by Michael Adams, Executive Director of SAGE. As we look to the future in the afternoon, breakouts will include information-sharing in the information age, the graying of the AIDS epidemic, an organizer’s roundtable, and a facilitated discussion on the future of our aging movement. At the conclusion of the Institute, all participants will be invited to the Elder Hospitality Suite for refreshments.

Presenters: Amber Hollibaugh, Senior Strategist, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Michael Adams, Executive Director, SAGE; Monique George, GRIOT Circle; Margueritte Wilkins, Harlem HEAT; Dawn Shedrick, Director of Community Services, SAGE-Long Island; Lisa Krinsky, LGBT Aging Project, Boston; Bill Serpe, Director of SAGE Milwaukee; Lee Chew, social worker, SAGE; John Acosta, Azteca; Olivia Commack, OLOC; Kim Dill, SAGE Upstate/LGBT Health and Human Services Network of New York; Sandy Armstrong, Grey and Gay in the West; Barbara Satin, GLBT Generations; Tom Weber, SAGE; Bill Stackhouse, GMHC; Bill Kirkpatrick, New Leaf; Karen Taylor, SAGE;

SAGE’s leadership of the Aging Institute at Creating Change is part of a new and innovative partnership between SAGE and the Task Force. The partnership recognizes both SAGE’s singular role as the oldest and largest LGBT aging organization in the United States and the Task Force’s strong and continuing commitment and support for LGBT aging advocacy.

LGBT Campus Administrators

The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals (“the Consortium”) will host a day of professional development, skills building, and networking for those who have a professional role supporting LGBTQ issues on college and university campuses and people wishing to assume such a position on a college campus. Topics to be covered include: best practices in educational and developmental programming, and skills building and discussion on issues of social justice and diversity to better support college students. There will also be time for administrators to meet with others from their regions to discuss common concerns and specific challenges.

Presenters: Emily Blake, Assistant Director, Office of Student and Academic LGBTQ Initiatives, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY; Joy Pugh, Coordinator, LGBT Resource Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA; Amit Taneja, Associate Director, LGBT Resource Center, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY; Andrea Domingue, Assistant Director, Office of LGBT Student Services, New York University, New York, NY

Sexual Freedom For All! Challenging the Narratives of Sexual Fear

Over the last 25 years, the right wing has advanced an agenda that criminalizes abortion services, attacks LGBT people and their families, and fosters shame and sexual ignorance. They’ve succeeded by developing a powerful master narrative complete with good guys – those protecting parents and families – and bad guys – the morally bankrupt, sexually deviant predators. Their narrative includes a values vocabulary and imagery that reinforces their small, narrow-minded view of good vs. evil in a compelling and articulate way. It’s time that advocates of sexual freedom develop a compelling counter-narrative. And the timing couldn’t be better: The conservative brand has been damaged after seven years of an unpopular president, a fanatical Congress that overstepped its boundaries in the Terri Schiavo case and the very public demonstration of sexual hypocrisy of right-wing politicians and ministers. During this day long Institute, you’ll hear the latest analysis and strategic recommendations of what it will take to counter the right-wing along with an opportunity for hands-on work to begin crafting a counter-narrative. You’ll leave this Institute with the tools to begin to challenge and reshape the national dialog.

Presenters: Ricci Joy Levy, Executive Director, The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Washington DC; Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, New York, NY; Robert A. Pérez, Senior Vice President, Fenton Communications,San Francisco CA; Ana Lara, bustingbinaries.com, Austin TX; Yosenio Lewis, Woodhull Freedom Foundation Board of Directors, San Francisco CA; Cathy Renna, Renna Communications, New York NY

Creating Change Sponsors