Cathy Renna, cathy@rennacommunications.com, 917.757.6123

For a photo or to schedule an interview, contact cathy@rennacommunications.com

NATIONAL LGBT FAMILY ADVOCACY GROUP NAMES

A. CHARLENE LEACH DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

February 26, 2007, Washington, DC: Family Pride, the national non-profit organization committed to securing family equality for all loving families, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer parents, guardians and allies, today announced that Ms. A. Charlene Leach will take the position of development director on February 26, 2007.

"We are thrilled Charlene is joining our team at Family Pride," said Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director. "Charlene brings a deep, longtime commitment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and incomparable skill in articulating why supporting Family Pride's efforts through funding is so important," continued Chrisler. "With her skills and expertise, Charlene will enable us to deepen our relationship with current donors and also reach new supporters. She is ideally suited to help our funders understand that they are making an investment in all of our families and supporting Family Pride’s ability to make a difference in the community," concluded Chrisler.

“I look forward to joining an amazingly talented and dedicated staff.  How we relate to our family as children is how we learn to relate to the world as adults,” said Leach. “I'm happy to join the important work of Family Pride to ensure that everyone enjoys the right to have a family and stand in solidarity with the many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents that are raising their children in healthy, nurturing homes,” she concluded.

Ms. Leach has more than 15 years of combined experience as a program developer, manager, administrator, training specialist, educator, and policy maker.  Previous work experience includes extensive involvement in diverse areas such as public health, substance abuse treatment and prevention, community development, education and training.  As a manager, her responsibilities have included marketing, program development, proposal development, technical assistance, contract negotiation, project management, evaluation, fiscal management, faith based initiatives and supervision.  As a training specialist her particular expertise focuses on designing, and implementing strategic training and technical assistance efforts to maximize participant communication and learning. 

Ms. Leach has most recently been a consultant with Hayes-Cozier & Schaffer Health Partnership, LLC, an organizational development and sustainability consulting firm in Washington , DC . She has more than twelve years experience in program design and implementation, major donor and foundation fundraising, corporate sponsorship, strategic planning, capacity building, and staff and board development. She has worked extensively in the LGBT adolescent field and in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, with the bulk of that work occurring within communities of color or had a focus on communities of color.

Ms. Leach served as a member of the training staff at Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York, where part of her duties included developing trainings to assist the larger community in understanding LGBT youth issues.  She also served as Deputy Director at the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, the only national organization that advocates for and with LGBT young people.

Family Pride is the national non-profit organization committed to securing family equality for all loving families, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer parents, guardians and allies. Our work consists of strategically linked initiatives—broad in scope, but simple in vision—love, justice, family, equality. For more information about Family Pride go to www.familypride.org.