Ingrid Rivera-Dessuit Named Racial and Economic Justice Policy Analyst at NGLTF Policy Institute
June 02, 2000
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The Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) today announced the appointment of Ingrid Rivera-Dessuit as Racial and Economic Justice Policy Analyst. Rivera-Dessuit brings to this position crucial skills and a background as an advocate, community organizer, educator and writer. NGLTF’s Racial and Economic Justice Initiative, which Rivera-Dessuit will direct, is a multi-year commitment to research, policy development and advocacy to increase meaningful work by mainstream gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations on issues of racism and poverty, and to increase advocacy by predominantly straight civil rights and anti-poverty groups on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Ingrid Rivera-Dessuit brings to our movement a superb background in organizing for GLBT rights, social service delivery and welfare rights, and against poverty," said Urvashi Vaid, Director of NGLTF's Policy Institute. "She also has both the intellectual training and personal experience that allow her unique insight into the challenge of advancing racial and economic justice in the current political landscape."
"NGLTF's commitment to a GLBT movement focused on social justice is exciting and timely," said Rivera-Dessuit. "The goal of NGLTF's Racial and Economic Justice Initiative is to knit together into a powerful and effective force for social change organizations working on GLBT, race and poverty issues."
"Working on the Racial and Economic Justice Initiative at the NGLTF Policy Institute merges many different parts of my experience and skills," Rivera-Dessuit added. "As a mother who is a lesbian of color, who was once homeless, and who once lived on welfare, I know first-hand how issues of race, poverty, and sexual orientation come together. And I understand how crucial it is that we, as a community, take on the task of changing public policy and attitudes in these areas."
At the NGLTF Policy Institute, Rivera-Dessuit will coordinate the Racial and Economic Justice Initiative (REJI). The initial phase of REJI involves extensive consultation with GLBT people of color and anti-poverty activists across the country to develop a research agenda. Initial meetings have already been held with GLBT people of color activists from New York City, the Bay Area and the South. Rivera-Dessuit will conduct additional consultation meetings with activists around the U.S. in the next few months to determine what types of research are most needed to support the work of GLBT people of color and anti-poverty activists. Research will gather basic demographic information about GLBT people of color and poor people of all colors. It will also examine racism within the GLBT community, and the unmet needs and policy priorities of GLBT people of color and low-income people.
The Racial and Economic Justice Initiative's first original research project, Black Pride Survey 2000, is being conducted in collaboration with local Black Prides at 10 Black Pride celebrations across the country this spring and summer. Conducted under the leadership of a prestigious team of African American gay and lesbian scholars, Black Pride Survey 2000 will document the policy priorities, basic demographics, and unmet needs of thousands of Black GLBT people. This research will provide invaluable information about family structure, age, occupation, income, political affiliation, policy concerns, experiences of discrimination, access to health care, and a host of other subjects. Because sexual orientation and gender identity are rarely included in surveys, there is a dearth of solid, statistical information specifically about GLBT people in the United States.
"Black Pride Survey 2000" is a step toward closing this wide demographic gulf for Black GLBT people. In 2001, NGLTF's Policy Institute will publish a report co-authored by the community organizers and researchers who are responsible for developing "Black Pride Survey 2000." This document will include policy recommendations and model legislation to address the issues prioritized by the participants surveyed.
Rivera-Dessuit received a Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Brandeis University in 1999 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Bradford College in Massachusetts in 1997. Rivera-Dessuit most recently served as Coordinator of Volunteer Services and Community Outreach at the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project in New York City, where she recruited and trained volunteers for myriad programs, including a 24-hour bilingual crisis intervention hotline. Prior to that, Rivera-Dessuit served on the Lawrence Environmental Justice Council in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where her work as an organizer helped to shut down local incinerators and to mobilize new leaders in a low-income community of color. Also in Lawrence, she was the founder of Gay and Lesbian Community Advocates, and organized the first GLBT/straight pride march in Lawrence. Rivera-Dessuit received the 1998 Stonewall Award for Political Leadership and Empowerment from the Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance of Massachusetts for organizing the Lawrence Pride march despite strong opposition from anti-gay activists and politicians.
In Boston, Ingrid Rivera-Dessuit served as a consultant for the Department of Social Services in a residential teen living program and served as an advocate for teen mothers on welfare. She worked with advocacy groups to help develop a study on the impact of welfare reform in Massachusetts and researched welfare policies. Rivera-Dessuit currently serves as a Board Member of the Mountain Meadow Camp Collective, a sleep-away camp for children of GLBT parents in New Jersey. She also serves as a member of the GLBT Immigrant Network at the New York Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, the Queer Economic Justice Network, and Vieques Libre Now, a cultural artists collective.
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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movementís premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.
