Newsroom – Page 156 – David Perry & Associates

San Francisco’s Alliance for Smiles Expands Its Global Reach

Written on July 26, 2019.

Media Contacts:
David Perry (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

Erin Saberi (916) 952-5080 / erin@davidperry.com

San Francisco’s Alliance for Smiles Expands Its Global Reach

– New Programs Will Give New Smiles To Thousands Of Cleft Palate Children inCentral America, Africa and the Philippines

Tuesday, July 30 will see San Francisco City Hall Lit to Honor Cleft Awareness and Alliance for Smiles 15^th Anniversary

26 July 2019 — San Francisco, CA: As we come to the end of July — National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month — Alliance for Smiles (www.allianceforsmiles.org), the San Francisco-based global organization providing sustainable cleft-palate treatment and support worldwide, is pleased to announce the expansion of its global missions to include Central America, Africa and a return to the Philippines, with a first time mission to Manila.

AFS has worked for 15 years in 15 countries and is now pleased to be increasing its presence and support for children with new missions to Guatemala, Honduras and Egypt. Alliance For Smiles is bringing its sustainable treatment model that builds capacity for continued life changing treatment to Retalhuleu, Guatemala on September 13^th,to Aswan, Egypt on November 3^rd and to Honduras in the spring, 2020. Additionally, a return mission is planned to the Philippines after a ten-year hiatus, with a first time mission to Manila, September 29^th. On July 30, in recognition of Alliance for Smiles’ 15^th Anniversary and Cleft Awareness Month, San Francisco City Hall will be lit “hot pink / purple” – the color of Cleft Awareness Ribbons.

“We are delighted to be announcing this life-changing expansion at the culmination of National Cleft Palate Awareness Month,” said Alison Healy, Executive Director of Alliance For Smiles. “Our unique model of cleft palate care works with teams in country to develop a sustainable model of care in country that supports ongoing life-changing care for thousands of children.”

In addition to organizing and sending two-week medical missions of surgical teams comprised of approximately 15 medical volunteers, supported by approximately 5 non-medical volunteers to a country, AFS also works side-by-side with local medical practitioners to exchange ideas on proper medical techniques and procedures, as well as to provide follow-up care. Additionally, the organization also works to build sustainability in country, through the establishment and maintenance of Medical Treatment Centers that provide follow-up and continuing care to children who receive surgery.

Alliance For Smiles has served almost 7,000 children worldwide.

AFS provides care to all patients, regardless of sex, age, economic status, educational background, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity or marital status.

Upcoming Medical Missions

September 13 — 21, 2019 – Retalhuleu, Guatemala Medical Mission
September 28– October 13, 2019 – Manila, Philippines Mission
October 12– 26, 2019 – Yangon, Myanmar Medical Mission
November 2 — 16, 2019 – Wenzhou China, Teaching Mission
November 3 — 17, 2019 – Aswan, Egypt Medical Mission
November 15 – 21, 2019 — Lagos, Nigeria Medical Mission

Learn more at: www.allianceforsmiles.org

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David Perry Named to Board of San Francisco Chamber of Commerce

Written on July 25, 2019.

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.

Manny’s presents Two Democratic Presidential Candidates in Discussion

Written on July 16, 2019.

Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

MEDIA ADVISORY / REQUEST FOR ONSITE COVERAGE: July 16 & 17

WHO: Manny’s presents

WHAT/WHEN: Two Democratic Presidential Candidates in Discussion

WHERE Manny’s / 3092 16^th Street @ Valencia, San Francisco

WHEN Tuesday, July 16:

6pm – Conversation between Kara Swisher and Andrew Yang

on his 2020 candidacy

7pm – Grassroots fundraiser for Andrew Yang’s campaign with

an inside look on how things are going

Wednesday, July 17:

6:30pm – Conversation with Tom Steyer on his run for President,

interviewed by Manny Yekutiel

WEB: www.welcometomannys.com

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

Written on July 9, 2019.

Media Contact: David Perry / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

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

San Francisco-Based URI Marks July 4th with “Peace Building”

Written on July 3, 2019.

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 4^th with “Peace Building”

Kicking off its 20^th 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 243^rd 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 20^th 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.

Learn more at URI.org.