by Renata Moreira
Beloved community and friends,
After seven years working to advance equity for LGBTQ families and our allies in California, I will be transitioning out of my role as Executive Director of Our Family Coalition (OFC) at the end of June to devote some much-needed time to my own family. It has been a profound honor to serve our diverse community and to work alongside countless passionate changemakers, particularly at a time of such need. I’m tremendously proud of the work we have done and continue to do to ensure that all of our LGBTQ families are able to thrive and know they are supported.
My work as Executive Director coincided with Trump’s election. Fom day one, I have been so moved by the fierce community response. For every gut-punch to our democratic process and to decency, I’ve seen resilience and solidarity. Particularly for a family-driven agency like OFC, we have had to remain alert and responsive to near-daily attempts on the part of this Administration to roll back legal gains, or to isolate, separate, and persecute the most vulnerable among us. Yet at the same time, we to draw inspiration from our love of our families, and maintain the values of compassion and justice in our work. For our sake and theirs.
In the past three years, I’ve had the honor of leading OFC to numerous impressive accomplishments. I’m especially proud to highlight here:
- our transformative work in in anti-bias education, where our trainings of 2,100 teachers and educators have gone on to impact thousands of California students;
- the increase of our base of individual supporters participating and funding this life-affirming work at our Night Out galas;
- our selection as the recipient of the 2018 José Julio Sarria History Makeraward from SF Pride, which honored OFC among Pride Marshals for our work leading the coalition to ensure that the FAIR Education Act is thoroughly implemented in the state;
- the expansion and innovation of our programs our programs, producing over 250 playgroups, workshops, and community events impacting nearly 4,000 LGBTQ families and allies annually; and
- our pioneering advocacy work in education, which rallied over a dozen organizations to do the deep, necessary, work to vet and provide concrete edits to the textbooks seeing to rectify the historical exclusion of LGBTQ people and our families in our history and social science curriculum.
I hope you can take a minute to also celebrate the collective achievements with us.
As the first immigrant and first person of color to lead Our Family Coalition, I’m also honored to have been named among Changemakers of the Year by The Bay Area Reporter in 2017, highlighting Bay Area leaders who positively impact the LGBTQ community in our great city and state. I will be transitioning out of OFC’s leadership with my heart filled with gratitude to have been able to work with so many of you to expanded our initiatives to better support the rich racial diversity of our community and hope to be co-creating again with you in the near future.
Meanwhile, Our Family Coalition’s Board of Directors has begun the search for candidates for Interim Executive Director to lead OFC through the remainder of the calendar year, during which time a comprehensive, national search for OFC’s next Executive Director will take place. The position description is at tinyurl.com/OFC-IED-2019 (opens PDF); please do email the search committee (ied@ourfamily.org) if you know of the perfect person to pilot OFC during this exciting next chapter! Given the dedication and many years of service on the part of the Board and staff, I am confident the organization will be in very able hands as Our Family Coalition charts its path forward.
I will return to work toward equity and liberation soon, renewed by vital time with family. I also know I will continue supporting Our Family Coalition’s next chapter as a donor, as an engaged community member, as an advisor, and as a friend. I am deeply honored to have been a part of this organization, with all of you.
Todo meu amor e luz,
Renata Moreira, Executive Director
PS: Our Family Coalition’s Interim ED Job Announcement is fresh off the press [here; opens PDF]! We look forward to connecting with inspiring candidates. Much love & light to you and families.
