CLASSACT FORUMS RETURN AGAIN THIS SPRING!

ClassACT Forums have been on a winter break, but we are gearing up to return this spring with a forum on LGBTQ youth: the many challenges they face, the policies that affect their lives, and the impact on their mental health, development and well-being. This forum is presented in conjunction with ClassACT partner JusticeAid. This year JusticeAid has chosen SMYAL as their beneficiary, and we are pleased to announce that an activist from SMYAL will be a member of our panel. Dr. Harold Cottman ‘73, a psychiatrist who has served members of the LGBTQ community and others who have been marginalized, will also be on the panel. The date, our moderator and other panelists are still in development. Later in the year we plan to present forums on health, voting rights and our changing climate.

Graphic by Pamela Garlick

Classmates engaged in planning the first forum are: Steve Milliken, Founder of JusticeAid, Therese Steiner, ClassACT HR73 and JusticeAid board member, Donna Brorby, Rick Brotman, Harold Cottman, Marion Dry, Sara Greenberg, Andrea Kirsh, Nancy Saarman, Lindsey Straus, Jacki Swearingen, and Sarah Ulerick.

We hope you will join us for all of our 2022 forums. Stay tuned!

JUSTICEAID FOCUSES ON LGBTQ CIVIL RIGHTS

For 2022, JusticeAid will focus on LGBTQ civil rights, specifically the challenges faced by queer and trans youth who are often marginalized, criminalized, and dehumanized. JusticeAid’s 2022 grantee-partner, Washington, D.C.-based SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders), creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to build self-confidence, develop critical life skills, and engage their peers and community through service and advocacy. SMYAL’s work includes mental-health counseling; after-school programming; teaching leadership, advocacy, and training skills; and providing housing for homeless youth (40% of homeless youth across the nation self-identify as queer.) Click here to learn more.

Photo from smyal.org

SAVE THE DATES: MAY 15TH & 16TH IN NYC

MAY 15TH: JUSTICEAID/ RIVERSIDE CHURCH PUBLIC FORUM

For the fourth year in a row, JusticeAid is partnering with The Riverside Church in New York City to host a free program that spotlights JusticeAid’s annual issue. This year’s in-person Forum will center on the societal and legal challenges faced by LGBTQ youth, with music and other arts elements.

MAY 16TH: JUSTICEAID CONCERT AT CITY WINERY CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BESSIE SMITH

Not to be missed! Join classmates Steve Milliken, JusticeAid Co-Founder & CEO, and Therese Steiner, ClassACT HR73 and JusticeAid Board member, and lovers of justice, jazz and the blues, for an incredible night of music honoring “the Empress of the Blues,” Bessie Smith. The concert at the new home of City Winery in New York City will raise vital funds to support the work of SMYAL.

FEATURING LGBTQ ART & ARTISTS

Each month, JusticeAid is featuring films, artists and musicians that illuminate the LGBTQ experience, in the hopes that these works will spark conversation between friends, colleagues and family members, and deepen our understanding of queerness. Check it out!