Jack Bird and John Darby, San Francisco Towers, San Francisco, CA
Jack and John have been partners since 1959. During their life together, John served as the executive director of the Hearing Society for 36 years and helped found the Rainbow Deaf Society in the 1970s. Jack worked as the controller of a major corporation and volunteer accountant for the Hearing Society, as well as serving on the board of Men's Associated Exchange (MAX). They both remain active volunteers at San Francisco Towers, where they've lived since 1998. Jack and John were also the inspiration for the Fairy Godfathers for LGBT Disability Issues Fund, a named fund within Horizons Foundation's LGBT Community Endowment Fund dedicated to creating a world in which LGBT people with disabilities are able to participate fully and equally in all aspects of community and society. To learn more about Jack and John or the Fairy Godfathers Fund, please see http://www.horizonsfoundation.org/page/donors/darbybird
Julie Lienert, Ally Action, Concord, CA
Julie Lienert is the Executive Director of Ally Action, a non-profit organization
with more than 20 years of successful, grassroots work supporting school communities
to be safe, inclusive and effective for all, regardless of sexual or gender identity/expression.
Prior to her work with Ally Action, Julie created the Safe Schools Project at
Catholic Charities of the East Bay, served as a Health and Sexuality Educator
for grades K-12 in rural Yup'ik villages of southwestern Alaska, and facilitated
peer education programming alongside HIV+ inmates at San Quentin State Prison
through her work with the Marin AIDS Project. Julie is a 2006 LeaderSpring Fellow,
a participant in the Horizons Foundation's Strategic Partnership Program, and
helps represent Ally Action in the eQuality Scholarship Collaborative – the oldest
such collaborative in the country. She was awarded the Contra Costa Peacemaker
of the Year Award in 2000 for her work with school community leaders, community
organizations, youth, and parents in creating more welcoming environments for
us all.
Mark Misrok, Positive Resource Center, San Francisco, CA
Mark Misrok is the Director of Client Services and Community Programs, Employment Services, at Positive Resource Center in San Francisco. Mark has been living with HIV for over 20 years, and began his own vocational rehabilitation activities with Positive Resource Center as a client and then as a volunteer in 1992. He became the Program Director in 1995, and has overseen the development of PRC's vocational rehabilitation, employment and career counseling, computer training, job placement, small business development and community partnership programs. In 2006, over one thousand individuals from all San Francisco Bay Area counties utilized the services of PRC's Employment Services Program. Mark currently serves as President of the National Working Positive Coalition and is a member of the S.F. Mayor's Committee for Employment of Persons with Disabilities. Mark is a fierce advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS and it is represented in his life's work.
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