In this edition of Love & eNews, we celebrate the legacy of Janice Mirikitani and all the other AANHPI leaders who have shaped GLIDE. We invite you to a Virtual Justice Series event tomorrow to discuss anti-Asian sentiment in our communities. We feature the advocacy work of our CSJ staff and UCSF doctors and residents in Sacramento. We reflect on the AANHPI women who fight for justice, discuss our work to help treat mental illness, and bring you a leadership message about the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco. We also showcase our work to improve digital literacy with older Asian-Americans, and discuss how we're building sustainable futures with our zero-waste food pantry. Plus, GLIDE in the news, upcoming events, and we're hiring. Read on!

On The Shoulders Of Our Heroes: Celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month

For more than half a century, the history and promise of GLIDE have been closely intertwined with San Francisco’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. As we celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month this May, I want to begin by honoring the AANHPI heroes who taught us – who continue to teach us – that GLIDE is strongest when we practice radical inclusion. We are most resilient when we extend unconditional love.

Janice Mirikitani, GLIDE Co-Founder and a sansei (third-generation) Japanese American, urged us “to make those connections with people who care about the total community, not just their community, not just a particular segment of the community.” Janice modelled radical inclusion in her work at GLIDE from 1965 to 2021, and in the AANHPI community. At GLIDE, she opened her heart to people who felt abandoned – especially survivors of domestic violence and people in recovery – welcoming them into the GLIDE community and helping them create stability in their live.

Read the rest of our Leadership Message

Anti-Asian Sentiment, Its History, Trauma, and Healing – A Virtual Justice Series

Join the Center for Social Justice for in-depth discussion with those in the forefront of what is occurring, its history and how it’s shared with other communities of color, its trauma and how to heal. This discussion will feature Janice Li of the Coalition for Community Safety & Justice; Faauuga Moliga-Puletasi of the SF Democratic County Central Committee; and Community Activist Gaynorann Siataga of San Francisco.

Moderator: Tri Nguyen, GLIDE Director of Marketing & Communications

Learn More and Register

GLIDE Heads to Sacramento 

On May 2, Holly Joshi and Eleana Binder from the Center for Social Justice and Amber Sheldon from the Harm Reduction team went to Sacramento along with UCSF doctors and residents to advocate for continued and expanded funding to prevent overdoses, increase access to drug treatment options, and interrupt the spread of STI and viral hepatitis.

The team met with the health policy consultants for the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees, as well as the policy consultant for Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, to advocate for $61 million (over the next four years) for statewide overdose prevention and harm reduction programs including staff costs, delivery of naloxone (Narcan), fentanyl test strips, overdose prevention, and drug treatment provision and navigation and $15 million (over three years) to strengthen the capacity to prevent, test, and treat for hepatitis C in marginalized communities.

Read More

The Stories We Were Told

During AAPI (American and Pacific Islander) Heritage Month, I celebrate all of us – the richness of our immigration history, our diaspora, our delicious foods, our beautiful languages, our songs and movements, and the history we will make from where we stand and the people we are able to bring along with us because of our stories, our truths, and our connectedness to one another. 

We are told we do not belong. We are not allowed to belong. Storytelling helps us to see how we share in sameness, how we are connected, and how we fit in. As with most minority groups, Jan’s story was not just her own. Her story is etched (literally) in Japanese American history in books, on monuments, in museums. Her story represents AAPI women who write, who poet, who dance, who art, who march, who overcome, who fight for justice. Jan taught me, showed me, led me to do my own work – to find my own voice, to understand my own history, to know who I am even if it takes a lifetime to learn it. 

Read the rest of Lilian's story

Advancing the Cause of Mental Health at GLIDE

May is Mental Health Awareness month – and as an organization that is radically inclusive and seeks to alleviate suffering, we know that much more needs to be done to treat mental illness, a condition that affects close to 60 million Americans.

 Read more here

The Fentanyl Crisis is Jeopardizing the Health and Safety of Our Community

Much has been in the news about the fentanyl epidemic, its impact on our city and the most recent efforts underway to disrupt the distribution, sales and use of fentanyl in San Francisco with a focus on our Tenderloin neighborhood. For 60 years, GLIDE has served the people of the Tenderloin and we are acutely aware of the devastating impact fentanyl has had in our neighborhood and in our city. GLIDE has a vested interest in the safety and well-being of all people living and working in the Tenderloin and shares in our community’s desire for increased safety, health, equity, and justice for all.

Because of GLIDE’s proximity to the people and communities we serve, we know first-hand that increased law enforcement presence is not an effective, long-term, sustainable solution to address the crisis on our streets. We have been here before and have witnessed the direct, inequitable, and destabilizing impact criminalizing drugs has had on our community. Make no mistake, the fentanyl crisis is jeopardizing the health and safety of our community; this is a public health crisis, and we must treat it as such.

“We stand ready to work shoulder to shoulder with our elected officials to manifest real, lasting change in our neighborhood and create a safe, healthy, and equitable Tenderloin – and San Francisco – for all. “

 Read the rest of our Leadership Message

Our Cecil & Jan Legacy Circle Luncheon

On Sunday, May 21, GLIDE held our first Cecil & Jan Legacy Circle Luncheon since 2019! Our Cecil & Jan Legacy Circle is a group of dedicated supporters who have built a lasting legacy by providing for GLIDE in their will, trust, or estate plan. Our luncheon was a huge success, and we celebrated the generosity of our Legacy Circle members as well as the 60th Anniversary of Reverend Cecil Williams' arrival at GLIDE!

Have you already included GLIDE in your estate plan? Please let us know! Want to learn more, but aren't sure how to get started? Contact us today and we would love to assist you!

Improving Digital Literacy in the Asian-American Community at GLIDE

How do I connect to Wifi? Where do I access email? What is Google search? Questions that sound so rudimentary to us ... but to seniors who’ve been left out of the digital revolution, they seem remote and complicated.

For older adults, 65+, the importance of being able to use technology to help remain mentally fit and support self-sufficiency can’t be stressed enough. But also in times of social isolation, being able to hop on the Internet and find helpful online resources can be of tremendous value.

GLIDE is currently partnering with the Community Tech Network (CTN), a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that supports computer centers and technology training programs for the undeserved in our community enabling participants to learn how to connect to basic services, including lost-cost Internet and laptop access.

Read more here

GLIDE In The News

Saundra Haggerty, our lead facilitator and case manager for GLIDE’s Men In Progress (MIP) program, sat down with CBS' Reed Cowan to discuss the need for the Dream Keepers Initiative in San Francisco. “At the root of the need for an initiative like the Dream Keepers Initiative is systemic racism, and we[GLIDE] are proud to be a part of addressing that for the black community in San Francisco”, said Saundra. The grant completed its first-round in early May and after inaugural recipients are chosen, the grant will open up later this year to new applicants.

Building Sustainable Futures with our Zero Waste Food Pantry

Access to healthy food is a fundamental human right, and we are committed to ensuring that all families have access to it. Our Zero Waste Food Pantry program provides nutritious food to about 75 low-income families per week. Our food containers are carefully reused, and we source our food from local vendors to reduce our carbon footprint and promote sustainability.

Read more here.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, May 25th – AANHPI Heritage Month: Anti-Asian Sentiment, Its History, Trauma, and Healing (A Virtual Justice Series). (RSVP here for this free virtual event.)
Friday May 26th – GLIDE Justice Network. The Network meets regularly to help build power amongst BIPOC community organizations, activists and advocates. (Read more here)
Sunday May 28 – GLIDE Pride Team, a community group that promotes equal justice for LGBTQ-related causes and supports community organizations in the greater San Francisco area. (Read more here)
Thursday June 22nd – Virtual Justice Series: Pride Month. Event details in progress; click here for updates.
Friday, August 18th – GLIDE's 14th Annual Legacy Gala. (more info)

Click here for ALL the upcoming events at GLIDE.

GLIDE is Hiring!

Spread the word, GLIDE is hiring! GLIDE is seeking a transformative Chief Executive Officer, capable of taking the organization’s newly refreshed strategic vision – GLIDE Forward – into the next decade and beyond. Learn more here.

And at every level, our employees are the daily expression of GLIDE's core values and live our mission to create a radically inclusive, just, and loving community. The work is meaningful, and the people are great. Join us in rewarding work that makes a difference in the world. Visit our website to see our current openings.