FIRST NATIONAL POC LGBT CONVENING BEGINS

Oct. 11, 2011, Washington, D.C. — Professionals on aging in the people of color LGBT community arrived in the nation’s capital today for the First National POC LGBT Convening on Aging.  The two-day convening intends to build a network that strengthens alliances and fosters ongoing collaborations and broader discourse on issues, challenges and policies that effect the elder POC LGBT community.  The conference is a collaboration of the American Society on Aging‘s LGBT Aging Issues Network (LAIN) and GRIOT Circle, and is hosted at Brickfield Center with generous support from AARP and funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies.

The networking and opening reception allowed colleagues to meet and greet, some for the first time, and break bread together, before tackling the itinerary of workshops, small group sessions and facilitated panel dialogues on Wednesday and Thursday.  The evening closed with attendees screening three short film projects that document the trials and triumphs of some members of the elder POC LGBT community.  Michelle Alcedo of Openhouse in San Francisco showed her work-in-progress, GRIOT Circle shared the first installment of its Elders Speak series, and Hope Barrett of Center on Halsted in Chicago showed a portion of their documentary on LGBT elders living with HIV.

Helena Bushong, Trans-elder Community Advocate/Activist and Jewelle Gomez, Dir., Horizons Foundation.

Glen Francis, Exec. Dir., GRIOT Circle and Nancy Bereano.

Brian de Vries, Ph.D., prof. of gerontology, San Francisco State University, Dion Wong, coordinator, Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, and Scott Haitsuka, BASW, MSW intern.

Nancy Hinds, Brendalyn R. Goodall, MSW, and Marta Ames, Deputy Dir., Senior Service America.

Glen Francis, E.D., GRIOT Circle, Pauline Park, Chair, New York Assoc. for Gender Rights Advocacy, Helena Bushong, Trans-elder Community Advocate/Activist, Michelle Alcedo, Hope Barrett, MPH, Center on Halsted, and Scott Haitsuka, BASW, MSW intern.

Curtis Lipscomb, Exec. Dir., KICK-The Ageny for LGBT African-Americans, Donald Burch and (at far right) Nancy Bereano.

Anthony McPhatter, Fiscal Manager, GRIOT Circle and Aisha C. Young, M.A. AAC, Pres. & CEO, African-Americans in Gerontology.

Mario E. Tapia, E.D., Pres. & CEO, Latino Center on Aging, Laurens Van Sluytman, PhD, Assoc. Professor of Social Work, Morgan State College and Bonnie Harrison, MSHC, LMHC, Dir. Program Services and Evaluation, GRIOT Circle.

Nancy Hinds and Don Kao, Director, Project Reach.

National Convening participants at opening reception view short films presented by the Center on Halsted in Chicago, GRIOT Circle of Brooklyn, and Michelle Alcedo of Openhouse-San Francisco.

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