2000-2010BUILDING THE LEADERSHIP AND POWER OF LGBTQ YOUTH OF COLOR PROGRAM GUIDE FIERCE MISSION FIERCE is a membership-based organization building the leadership and power of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth of color in New York City. We develop politically conscious leaders who are invested in improving ourselves and our communities through youth-led campaigns, leadership development programs, and cultural expression through arts and media. FIERCE is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of social justice movement leaders who are dedicated to ending all forms of oppression. History Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment (FIERCE) was founded in 2000 by a group of primarily LGBTQ youth of color. FIERCE was founded on the principle that LGBTQ youth must realize and manifest our own social and political power to change our conditions, to shape our futures, and to become effective agents of change in our communities. While many organizations provide opportunities for LGBTQ youth to access services, none serve as a city-wide avenue for LGBTQ youth to direct our own social change agendas. FIERCE continues to serve as one of the nation’s few whose mission is to engage LGBTQ youth of color in community organizing. Why FIERCE? Why Now? FIERCE came about ten years ago because there was no organization in New York City poised to respond to the urgent needs of LGBTQ youth, who are more often perceived and treated like victims or criminals in many of the institutions that are mandated to serve us. While many organizations provide opportunities for youth to become involved in community organizing, none serve as a citywide avenue for LGBTQ youth to direct our own social change agendas. Organizations whose focus is primarily LGBTQ youth tend to do service-oriented programming. FIERCE was founded on the principle that LGBTQ youth must realize and manifest our own social and political power to change our conditions, to shape our futures, and to become effective agents of change in our communities. FIERCE continues to serve as one of the nation’s few whose mission is to engage LGBTQ youth in community organizing (as opposed to advocacy or direct services). Our unique contribution is our focus on collective action through leadership development and base-building with some of the most marginalized youth in New York City: primarily low-income and homeless LGBTQ youth of color. Building the Leadership & Power of LGBTQ Youth of Color: FIERCE Celebrates Ten Years 2000-2010 On behalf of FIERCE Youth Membership, Board of Directors and Staff: Welcome to FIERCE’s 10th Anniversary Gay-la Extravaganza! Tonight, we celebrate 10 years of FIERCE, and as we look back, we recall the thousands of people who have been part of building this amazing organization. As an active FIERCE member, I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they are FIERCE supporters. I’ve met countless member alumni and several former staff and board. So many people have been touched by FIERCE over the past decade and have helped it grow into the strong organization we all know today. FIERCE is covered in our fingerprints and our love. From our radical LGBTQ youth of color members and fabulous alumni, to die-hard allies, a super supportive staff, incredible donors, and amazing former and current board members: we have all played a part in making FIERCE a safe space where LGBTQ youth of color can build our power and exercise it... FIERCELY. On behalf of the FIERCE Youth Members, Staff and Board, we thank you. We are thankful for all the people who came before us—those who laid the foundation on which FIERCE stands today. We look to our past to motivate our future, and we are lucky to be in a movement where we’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most inspirational leaders of our time: Marsha P. Johnson, Regina Shavers, Willie Ninja, Bob Kohler and Sylvia Rivera to name a few, and we know that the list is long. We are grateful for those who support us and always have our backs. To our allies: thank you for standing in partnership with us as we work together to build a dynamic movement that is rooted in racial, economic, and gender justice and that fights for the liberation of all our communities. To our donors: thank you for believing in the power of youth-led grassroots organizing and for your deep commitment to sustain the work of LGBTQ youth members. As an Active Youth Member, I’m forever grateful to my fellow FIERCE members for working tirelessly to carry out the vision of this beautiful organization. Our membership base has grown steadily because of our sense of responsibility to bring our community into the fight for justice. As FIERCE member Rudy “Elegost” Rosado once said: “Base-building is the pulse of the organization, always flowing and strongly connected to the heart – our members.” Over the past 10 years, FIERCE has inspired LGBTQ youth of color to fight for our community and demand justice. It has given us the tools and the space to grow our political consciousness, deepen our skills as organizers, make friends we’ll have forever, and become lifelong social justice movement leaders. Very few spaces give young, trans and queer folks of color the chance to show our creativity, leadership and style, while also empowering us to create solutions to our problems and make changes that impact the day-to-day lives of everyone in our community FIERCE is an organization made by us, for us—where we organize to change the conditions that the rest of the world tells us we cannot overcome: homelessness, racism, police harassment, transphobic and homophobic violence, ageism and gentrification. Every day, we prove those haters wrong. Every day, we work to create our new world, and we do that standing side-by-side, in solidarity with all of you. In the spirit of Stonewall: The REBELLION IS NOT OVER! Thank you for being here to celebrate this historic milestone with us. With love, Ash Hammond FIERCE Active Youth Member Welcome to FIERCE’s 10th Anniversary Gay-la Extravaganza! Thursday, 13 of May, Two-thousand Ten | Highline Ballroom | New York, NY 6-7:30pm Pink Carpet Celebration Program 6:00pm FIERCE Reunion Mingle with FIERCE members, alumni, founders, staff, board, and supporters FIERCE Art Gallery Walk & Interactive Art Projects Complimentary hors d’oeuvres & Cash Bar 6:30pm Reflections on the Past 10 Years of LGBTQ Youth Organizing at FIERCE Welcome Kimberley Armstrong & John Blasco FIERCE member & Gay-la Youth Fellow & FIERCE Organizer “If No One Will Listen” Performed by FIERCE member Joseph Lee Edward Written by Keri Noble Appreciations Veronica Tirado, ‘Stitch’ Jeff Frank Barua-Valverde,Chris Baez, & Rickke Mananzala FIERCE members & FIERCE Executive Director Reflections Jesse Ehrensaft-Hawley, Bran Fenner, Krystal Portalatin FIERCE Co-Founders “Superwoman” Performed by FIERCE member Felicia Paris Written by Alicia Keys, Linda Perry, and Steve Mostyn Reflections Justin Rosado, Rudy “Elegost” Rosado, Cheyenne Rosado FIERCE alumni and current members Multi-media Slide Show Produced by FIERCE member Media Crew Spoken Word Written & Performed by Desireé Marshall FIERCE Lead Organizer Close Michael Owens, Ash Hammond, Raquel Laviña, & Ellen “Manny” Vaz FIERCE members, FIERCE Board member, & FIERCE Communications Director 8-11pm FIERCE Night Out! Concert Featuring Performances by Meshell Ndegeocello, Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely with Fred Cash, Adam Widoff, Judith Casselberry, Allison Miller, Gina Breedlove, Marcelle Davies Lashley & Joseph Magistro, Staceyann Chin, House of LaDosha, FIERCE Member Beau, John Blasco Testimony by FIERCE Alumni June Brown Hosted by Micia Mosely 11:00pm AFTER GLOW Presented by FIERCE in association with UBIQUITA WORLDWIDE Featuring Legendary DJ Bill Coleman, DJ RIMARKABLE, & Dj.shErOck. PERFORMERS MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO 10 time Grammy nominee, Meshell Ndegeocello, is a renowned bassist/singer/songwriter who has collaborated with The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Sting, John Mellencamp, Mos Def, Herbie Hancock and many, many more. Combined sales of Meshell’s albums total nearly 1 million copies in the US alone. Meshell released her 8th album, Devil’s Halo, on October 6, 2009 on Mercer Street / Downtown Music (David Gray, Ozomatli, Femi Kuti). Canonized, marginalized or just scrutinized, Meshell Ndegeocello has given up with the politics of explaining herself. After 20 years in an industry that has called her everything from avant garde to a dying breed, what Photo: Mark Seliger unquestionably remains is the fearsome bassist, prolific songwriter and the creativity and curiosity of an authentic musical force. With that, she has earned critical acclaim, the unfailing respect of fellow players, songwriters and composers, and the dedication of her diverse, unclassifiable fans. For the sake of setting the record straight, a few brass tacks remain: Meshell was born in Germany, raised in DC, signed at 23, and has been nominated for 10 Grammy awards. www.meshell.com STaceyaNN CHIN Staceyann Chin is a fulltime writer and activist. She is the recipient of the 2007 Power of the Voice Award from The Human Rights Campaign, the 2008 Safe Haven Award from Immigration Equality, the 2008 Honors from the Lesbian AIDS Project, and the 2009 New York State Senate Award. She unapologetically identifies as Caribbean and Black, Asian and lesbian, woman and resident of New York City. A proud Jamaican National, Staceyann’s voice was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where she spoke candidly about her experiences of growing up on the island and the dire consequences of her coming-out there. Widely known as co-writer and original performer in the Tony award winning, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, her poetry has seen the rousing cheers of the Nuyorican Poets’ Café, on e-woman shows Off-Broadway, and writing-workshops in Sweden, South Africa, and Australia.