(From L to R: GLIDE Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer Karl Robillard, Naeemah Charles, GLIDE Senior Director of The Center for Social Justice (CSJ), GLIDE President & CEO Dr. Gina Fromer, Assemblymember Matt Haney, GLIDE Senior Director of Public Affairs, Francesca Delgado-Jones, and GLIDE CSJ Policy Manager Eleana Binder.)

A small but mighty team at GLIDE wrapped up an exciting trip to Sacramento this week. We met with key legislative partners to advance our social justice policy agenda and share progress on our #GlideForward strategic plan.

At the highest level, GLIDE’s mission is to break cycles of poverty and marginalization by fighting systemic injustice, creating pathways out of poverty, and transforming lives. We saw this trip as a way to translate this ideal into concrete steps to improve lives for some of the most vulnerable people in our State.

Led by our president and CEO, Dr. Gina Fromer, we convened a group of leaders from our Center for Social Justice and Public Affairs teams to get the message out about GLIDE’s love agenda. Together, we walked the halls of the Capital to share the work we do with leaders from across the State on behalf of the people of the Tenderloin and San Francisco.

During the visit, we discussed a number of different bills passing through the State legislature that focus on nutrition services for seniors, transitional housing for LGBTQ+ youth, and a new bill that would allow marginally housed students the right to live in their cars on campuses.

We met with Assemblymember Matt Haney as well as staff from the Office of Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Assembly Budget Chair Jesse Gabriel and Assembly Members Mike Gipson, Tasha Boerner, and Mia Bonta.

GLIDE President & CEO Dr. Gina Fromer meets with Edwin Borbon, Legislative Director for Assemblymember Tasha Boerner

We also shared GLIDE’s key strategic priorities for the next year. These include the opening of our Women’s Center and mental health hub; modernizing our facilities; expanding our mobile services; envisioning a future where we house GLIDE clients; deepening our work to address substance use disorder; and formalizing a workforce development program to prevent recidivism. 

With the words of our Co-Founder Cecil Williams echoing in our hearts, “It’s always about the people,” we made the case that the voices of the most marginalized have a place in the halls of the Capital.

We left inspired by the people we met and eager to work together towards a more just and equitable world.

#GLIDEForward