David Perry Named to Board of San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
25 July 2019 – San Francisco: Longtime public relations professional and communications strategist David Perry has been named to the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Perry is the founder / CEO of David Perry & Associates, Inc (www.davidperry.com).
“I am deeply honored to join the Chamber Board in supporting San Francisco, the City that knows how to build business and support the community in equal measure,” said Perry, 57. “San Francisco has long understood that one does well by doing good. Like any large city, we have challenges. I look forward to working on those challenges with my colleagues.”
Perry joins fellow new board members Cammy Blackstone, Tony Calabrese, Stephanie Isaacson, Mike McGee, Julie Rosendahl, Kate Sofis, and John Viola.
DP&A, Inc. clients include Alliance for Smiles, the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, singer Breanna Sinclairé, George Lucas’ Skywalker Properties, Kilroy Real Estate, AsiaSF, URI, Manny’s, Dezart Performs, the Cathedral City Senior Center, author Jim Haas, the International Ocean Film Festival and VisitRichmondCA among others.
In addition, he has worked on such high profile city-wide projects as the Running of the Olympic Torch, Home For Halloween, America’s Cup, Super Bowl 50, Bay to Breakers, New Year’s Eve, the recent Grace Cathedral / Notre Dame Solidarity Concert, Tony Bennett Way and the Rugby World Cup Sevens International Championship.
Perry is the co-founder and president of the LGBT nonprofit Rainbow Honor Walk and a member of SF Travel, the San Francisco Hotel Council, the Desert Business Association, the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Golden Gate Business Association. Perry was the creator / host of “10 Percent”, with over 351 episodes, the longest running LGBT TV show in California history.
Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Perry moved to San Francisco in 1986. Perry and his husband / business partner, Alfredo Casuso, have been together since 1998 and were married in 2008.
WHY: Manny’s, “the New Hampshire of California” (KCBS Radio)continues its hosting of leading Democratic presidential candidates this week with events featuring Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer.
Manny’s is a people powered and community focused meeting and learning place in the heart of San Francisco that combines a restaurant, political bookshop, and civic events space. The goal of Manny’s is to create a central and affordable place to become a better informed and more involved citizen. We do this by offering our events space to nonprofits, activists, and civic organizations to spread their message and do their work as well as hosting our own civic and arts related programming. Our kitchen is run by the non-profit, Farming Hope, which hires formerly homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals and trains them in the food skills needed to work in the restaurant industry.
Manny’s opened on Election Night, 2018 where over 500 people came together to watch the results of that moment in our civic life together and since then the venue has hosted hundreds of gatherings. Manny’s is a community space and is proudly located in the Mission District – a historic hub of activism and progressive action.
Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours Honored
as First San Francisco Legacy Business Tour Company www.cruisinthecastro.com
9 July 2019 – San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Small Business Commission unanimously approved Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours as the city’s first and only Legacy Business Tour Company (www.cruisinthecastro.com). Recognized for providing 30 consecutive years as a longstanding, community-servicing business and a valuable cultural asset to the City and County of San Francisco.
Founded in 1989 by local historian Trevor Hailey who was inspired by the social and political upheaval of gay and lesbian rights in America. Trevor became an icon as well as, the orator of the Castro community for 16 years. Upon her retirement in 2005, travel professional and Castro resident Kathy Amendola, purchased Cruisin’ the Castro and continues to educate and empower people from around the globe on LGBTQ history and lack civil rights.
“It’s been a tremendous opportunity for me to call the Castro community my home. So much of LGBTQ history, activism and culture started in San Francisco. Over the past 14 years, my job went from being a tour guide to a civil rights activist. And following pioneers like Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, Harvey Milk, Cleve Jones and Carole Migden is a tremendous honor”, Amendola claims. “As a diverse culture, we don’t have visibility or equal rights in America nor many parts of the world where homosexuality/diversity is still illegal or a worse, a death sentence. My tour gives people the education and knowledge to make differences in their lives and communities. This is how we change the world, one heart at a time”, she added.
Kathy’s favorite story to share includes the Pink Triangle Park & Memorial and the rose quartz stones that fill the triangle. Visitors are encouraged to take the stones and spread pride throughout the world. One tourist from Germany, Kai Klose, a member of the Green Party in the German Parliament was so inspired that he returned to Germany and decided to come out with his sexuality in his job. Not only that, but for 7 years carried his rose quartz while making speeches in the Parliament about incorporating
LGBTQ laws into Germany’s government. In 2017, Germany legalized same-sex marriage and it was Kai’s party that was the forefront of the whole movement! Kathy and Kai did reunite and remain friends to this day.
Over the past 30 years, the Castro neighborhood has changed as the spectrum of sexuality and gender diversity has become more “visible”. No longer an exclusively white, male, homosexual haven, the emergence of bi-sexuality, pansexuality, and a- sexuality (to name a few!), has become much more prevalent in straight looking people.
Community involvement is a big issue for Kathy. Thru the years, she has served on many organizational Board of Directors and is currently an Emeritus Board Member for the Rainbow Honor Walk, bronze sidewalk plaques in the Castro honoring famous LGBTQ people whom have impacted history, as well as, the Pink Triangle Park & Memorial, America’s first in remembering homosexual men persecuted during WWII.
Noting her professional achievements, the San Francisco Police Department in 2017, began hiring Kathy to train their new cadet classes. To date, over 400 new officers have received LGBTQ cultural training to better understand and service this unique community.
Through the decades, it hasn’t always been easy for the single, women owned tour business. With the ebbs and flow of the economy, political tugs of war pertaining to LGBTQ rights, the deadly AIDS epidemic and global warming, their biggest threat that came to the industry however, has been the rash of “free or pays as you please”, tour companies. Some with big advertising budgets and volunteer guides. Many uninsured and most illegally operating without San Francisco tour guide licenses. “It’s
tremendously hard for any business to compete against “free”, quotes Amendola. Regardless, Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours persevered to a highly respected and award-winning company offering the most comprehensive LGBTQ tour in the world. It’s a rare and exceptional San Francisco business created by two passionate women spanning 30 years. Through their colorful characters, heartfelt stories, cultural knowledge and political activism, they’ve lived history and like ripples, continue to change history.
Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tours operates public Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10am – 12pm. Private educational, corporate and group tours are available upon request. Visit www.cruisinthecastro.com
Media Contacts: David Perry (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com Isabelle Ortega-Lockwood (415) 570-3235 / iortega@uri.org
San Francisco-Based URI Marks July 4th with “Peace Building”
Kicking off its 20th Anniversary Year with last week’s
“Accelerate Peace Conference”, International Non-Profit Challenges Americans to “Build Peace” this Independence Day
3 July 2019 – San Francisco: “The larger responsibility for all of us, and the next generation, is to create a situation where conflicts are prevented,” said General James Mattis, former Defense Secretary at last week’s unprecedented “Accelerate Peace” Conference at Stanford University, presented by San Francisco-based nonprofit URI.
“Military leaders have responsibilities as much to support peace as they have to fight wars,” said Mattis. “We have as much a role in the military in peace keeping and peace making as we do in war, because the entire purpose in why we do it is to try and restore a better peace. I vote for peace. I vote for what URI is doing and I endorse it.”
Heading into the nation’s 243rd birthday celebration, URI wants to make it clear: peace-building is the key to a better world.
“The best way to celebrate our nation’s independence day is to recommit our world to independence from violence,” said Isabelle Ortega-Lockwood, Communications Director for URI, which kicked off its 20th anniversary this year. “Our world is experiencing unprecedented levels of pollution, depletion of natural resources, and scarcity of clean drinking water. Hate crimes are on the rise and houses of worship go up in flames. Women’s rights are under attack. Communities are in turmoil, with neighbors living in fear of neighbors. There’s no denying the world is at a turning point. But a world-wide interfaith peacebuilding effort is pushing to turn it in the right direction.”
Responding to the increased fear and stress generated by current events, URI, the world’s largest grassroots interfaith peacebuilding network, hosted an unprecedented international conference at the Hoover Institution on theStanford University campus on June 26-27. Accelerate Peace: Interfaith Action in Global Peacebuilding gathered representatives of the world’s religious, spiritual, and Indigenous traditions to explore interfaith strategies for addressing humanity’s most pressing issues and find actionable solutions.
In addition to General Mattis, keynote speakers included:
H.E. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the Prevention of Genocide; and Azza M. Karam, Senior Adviser at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Coordinator of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development; addressing ending religiously-motivated violence
Valarie Kaur, Founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, delivering the Call to Action Keynote to combat the rising fear, Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism, hate speech, and violent crimes that divide communities
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Secretary-General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, addressing Women’s Empowerment and Environmental Sustainability in a time of global crisis for both
Young leaders from around the world addressing the immediacy of youth impact on international events in “From NextGen to GenNOW: Young Leaders Bringing Interfaith Action to the World”
General Mattis’ words echo an earlier endorsement from former Secretary of State Hon. George P. Shultz, who singled out URI’s work in building bridges across religious and cultural differences as the kind of positive, non-military approach that must be supported to deal with the rising violence of religious extremism: “I think that things like this are to be encouraged because they get people of different religions together…and get them working together.”
URI (United Religions Initiative) is the largest grassroots interfaith peacebuilding network in the world. It cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities. It implements its mission in 109 countries through local and global initiatives that build the capacity of nearly 1000 member groups and organizations, called Cooperation Circles, to engage in community action such as conflict resolution and reconciliation, environmental sustainability, education, women’s and youth programs, and advocacy for human rights.
URI holds the prestigious distinction of being a non-governmental organization (NGO) with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and has long-standing partnerships with several other UN agencies.
STANFORD, CA – June 26 – Audrey E. Kitagawa and Sadhvi Bhagawati participate in URI’s Accelerate Peace Conference on June 26th 2019 at Stanford University in Stanford, CA (Photo – Drew Altizer Photography)STANFORD, CA – June 26 – James N. Mattis and William Swing speak at URI’s Accelerate Peace Conference on June 26th 2019 at Stanford University in Stanford, CA (Photo – Andrew Caulfield for Drew Altizer Photography)Adama Dieng (center), UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, accepts URI’s Global Peacebuilder Award on behalf of the UN Office of Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
The seed for Alison’s career was planted early on, when her father was Peace Corps Director in Brazil and the Congo. This was her first exposure to other cultures and the riches that come with learning new approaches to life and helping others who are less fortunate than yourself.
It wasn’t until much later that Alison got the “gotta give back” bug which led to her becoming Volunteer Director of the AIDS Walk Picnic for 30,000 people. As a result, she started searching for a more meaningful career. After selling her catering and special events business, Alison set out to sea as a deck hand and coordinator of the Soviet-American sailing exchange on board HMS Rose (in Master and Commander). While overseas, she became forever changed by the magic of cultural exchanges which occurred on board. She later founded the Pacific Rim Foundation (PRF), an international non-profit, which allowed her to recruit and host international tall ships from around the world while also working as a diplomatic liaison to embassies, naval attaches, and their ex-pat communities.
Now as CEO of Alliance for Smiles, Alison feels right at home running a nonprofit organization which is dedicated to transforming lives and to creating international friendships and understanding as a platform for peace. She is buoyed daily by the community of support surrounding Alliance for Smiles, allowing her to strategically plan for a successful future by implementing new programming and fundraising practices.
Alison was educated at Massachusetts College of Art and Design as well as Presidio and Stanford Graduate Schools. She lives in Sausalito, CA with her Mexican-born husband and son and loves to sail on the weekends. Alison is a Rotarian.
Interview with Alison Healy, CEO, Alliance for Smiles
1. Why is cleft a world-wide problem that often takes 10 operations to resolve?
Cleft lip and palate are the second most common birth anomalies in the world. Although we do not know all the reasons for cleft births, we do know that nutrition, iron, environment and genetic disposition play an important role in determining who will be born with cleft. The first operation on a cleft patient takes care of their lip or their palate, but after that there are many more steps to recovery. These can include multiple operations for bone grafting, rhinoplasty, orthodonture, dental care, as well as on-going speech therapy, all of which must continue until the facial bones have stopped growing.
2. What makes Alliance for Smiles different from other cleft organizations?
Alliance for Smiles (AfS), like all cleft organizations, orchestrates missions to other countries where we operate on cleft children’s lips and palates. However, unlike other organizations, AfS offers two other program options. AfS offers educational missions to instruct and share knowledge with medical professionals such as medical students, doctors, nursing students and nurses. Additionally, AfS has long term treatment center programs which partner local medical professionals in four disciplines with four of our team members of the same discipline. These two teams work together twice a year, with communication in between visits, so that eventually the local team will feel confident to work on their own to handle cleft patients from the first operation to the last. This sustainable programming is what makes us unique.
We also have a medical fellowship program for adults 18 years and older. This two-week program offers an unique and hands-on opportunity to observe in the operating room, learn cleft techniques, transport and hold beautiful babies, speak extensively with our medial professionals in the OR and during meals, and more.
3. How do you decide where to go operate on children?
We go wherever there is a need and a local partner which can help us with logistics and procuring the facility and patients we need. By the end of 2020, we will have been to 15 countries in our 16-year history.
4. How do you fund your missions and how can people get involved to donate or volunteer?
We fund our missions through many corporations, foundations, and private donors. We are always seeking new partners who are committed to demonstrating social responsibility – to help sustain our missions and to grow our treatment centers.
Volunteers can sign up to work in the office, at our annual gala or on missions online at allianceforsmiles.org. We take mostly medical personnel on missions, but we do have a few non-medical positions on each mission too. Because of our close ties to Rotary clubs and districts, many of our non-medical volunteers are Rotarians and are committed to the basic philosophy of Rotary which is “service above self” and “creating international bridges of understanding and goodwill”.
Donations can be made online at allianceforsmiles.org.
5. How has working with Alliance for Smiles changed your life?
I feel more purposeful having a job that is also my passion. Helping others and creating bridges to intercultural understanding which I believe are the platform for building peace, makes me get out of bed raring to go every morning. I feel that we each have a duty to give back to others and to our planet and I always try to do my part.
6. Talk to us about this year’s missions: where are you going and to which countries for the first time?
In the next year we have ten missions which is average for us. We are very excited to be adding several new countries to our list: Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, and we are returning to the Philippines after a 10-year hiatus. Each new country we enter requires a lot of groundwork to establish the in-county contacts and to determine what needs to be adjusted for a new site and a different culture. Sometimes it can take as long as two years to plan a mission and to raise the needed funds; the average mission costs $90,000 which covers an average of 90 children’s operations.
7. What is the biggest misconception about cleft lip and palate anomalies and those who are born with it?
Understandably, most people think the problem is just what you can see, the lip. As I explained earlier, it is often up to 10 surgeries that are needed, not just one. It is a long process that requires regular follow-up and a medical team dedicated to cleft care to ensure that a child finishes care with all the support services having been involved.
In less developed countries, it is common to hear that the devil or a bad deed in a past life has caused a child to be born with cleft. This kind of thinking can be changed with education and indeed, many countries now have a better understanding of the myriad of reasons a child may be born with cleft.
