Katherine Acey
Katherine Acey is a
highly respected activist,
known for her
expertise and commitment
to social justice
feminism. Her creative and
inclusive vision of justice
movements has been instrumental
in setting
a standard for a more
progressive, diverse,
and community-driven
philanthropy.
Katherine is a Senior
Activist Fellow Emerita at
the Barnard Center for Research
On Women, where
she was a fellow in 2015 and
2016. Currently, she is the director
of strategic collaborations
at GRIOT Circle, a Brooklyn-based
organization serving elder people of
color where she was previously the
executive director.
From 1987 until 2010, Katherine
served as the executive director
of Astraea Lesbian Foundation
for Justice. Under her
stewardship, Astraea established
the nation’s first Lesbian Writers
Fund and Lesbian Visual Artists
Fund, created the International
Fund for Sexual Minorities in
1996, and launched the US Movement
Building Initiative in 2005
to support the leadership of people
of color LGBTQ organizations.
In 2017, Astraea established an
award – Social Justice Feminist –
in Katherine’s name to honor
movement elders.
Katherine serves as treasurer of
the board of the Center for Constitutional
Rights.
From 1982 to 1987, Katherine
served as the associate
director of the North Star
Fund in New York, overseeing
its grants programs
and managing
a donor portfolio. She
helped create the Women’s
Funding Network in
the mid 1980s, serving
as its first board chair.
She is a past board chair
of the Funders for Lesbian
and Gay Issues and
has been a board or advisory
member of Women in the Arts,
the Center for Anti-Violence Education,
New York Women Against
Rape, MADRE, Women Make Movies,
and the International Network
of Women’s Funds (Prospera).
Katherine is past chair of the National
Executive Committee of the
Palestine Solidarity Committee,
and was a core member of the Arab
Women’s Gathering Organizing
Committee. She has also served
on the Human Rights Watch LGBT
Program Advisory Committee.
Katherine has been honored
with the Changing the Face of
Philanthropy Award of the Women’s
Funding Network, and her
work has also been acknowledged
by the Cross Cultural Black Women’s
Studies Institute, the New
York City chapter of the National
Organization for Women, Lambda
Legal, and SAGE. She was profiled
in the 2017 book “200 Women
Who Will Change the Way You See
the World.”
Katherine holds a bachelor’s
degree in Sociology from Daemen
College and a master’s from the
Columbia University School of Social
Work.
José Albino
José Albino is executive
director of GRIOT
Circle, the nation’s
only non-profit focused
on the needs of LGBTQ elders of
color. Established 25 years ago,
GRIOT takes its name from a West
African word for storyteller but is
also an acronym for Gay Reunion
in Our Time. Its mission is to
challenge oppression such as ageism,
racism, sexism, transphobia,
homophobia, poverty, and xenophobia.
Funded largely by private donors
and some small spurts of
city money, the group, with tight
financial constraints, has grown
during the past six years under
José’s leadership into a “comprehensive,
one-stop shop service for
seniors,” he explained. Since joining
GRIOT Circle, he has created
support groups for men, women,
transgender folks, and HIV-positive
individuals.
“Fifty percent of individuals
who are HIV-positive in this country
are over the age of 50,” José
pointed out.
Tai Chi, knitting, wood carving,
and financial literacy workshops
are among options available to
members, and GRIOT Circle has
a peer-to-peer program so folks
can go to movies, shop, and
enjoy other activities together.
It has also found a
way to reach homebound
seniors who can’t make
the trek to its downtown
Brooklyn space through a
visiting program.
“We refuse to do bingo,”
Albino said, smiling. “Our
members deserve a more elevated
approach to living in
their truth.”
Director
of Strategic
Collaborations,
GRIOT Circle
José, a therapist and respected
authority in gerontology, has
worked in the aging field for more
than 20 years. With a bachelor’s
degree in psychology from the
University at Albany and a master’s
in education and human development
from the George Washington
University, he has built a
career based in intersectional
justice for disenfranchised older
adults.
Many GRIOT members experienced
homophobia and
transphobia in their families
or places of worship, so
mental health services have
emerged as an important
piece of the group’s work.
“This is where we have to
realize that this is a population
that has not basked
in the civil liberties that we
have now,” José explained.
“These are people who came
from a place of trauma in the
‘80s and ‘70s when being gay
was viewed as a psychological
disorder.”
Many clients remain closeted
at home, so they travel long distances
– some commute more 90
minutes from the Bronx – to the
friendlier confines of GRIOT Circle.
José also serves on the board
of Stonewall Community Development
Corporation, which works to
create affordable housing for New
York’s LGBTQ elders.
Executive
Director,
GRIOT Circle
2020 Impact A 4 wards | GayCityNews.nyc