HMF
Harvey and Our Vision
Harvey Milk’s dream for a better tomorrow filled with the hope for equality and a world without hate guides the Foundation. Harvey Milk’s ground breaking election in 1978 as one of the world’s first openly gay elected officials-and its most visible one- symbolized the freedom to live life with authenticity to millions of LGBT women and men around the world.
Harvey served less then a year in public office before his brutal assassination but his life profoundly changed a city, state, nation and a global community. His courage, passion and sense of justice rocked a country and stirred the very core of a put down and pushed out community, bringing forward new hope and a new vision of freedom.
As a start up not- for-profit organization, our program goals – to empower local, regional, national and global organizations so that they may fully realize the power of Harvey Milks story, style, and collaborative relationship building - are large and bold as Harvey taught us! The Foundation, through Harvey’s dream for a just tomorrow, envisions governments that celebrate the rich and universally empowering diversity of humanity, where all individuals – gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, the young, the disabled – all who had been excluded can fully participate in all societal rights without exception.
Harvey’s inspiring life has been the subject and inspiration for Academy award wining films (1984 The Times of Harvey Milk and 2009 Milk), operas, books including children’s books, plays, music, awards, proclamations and starting in 2010, an annual official governmental day of recognition.
Harvey showed us all what one person, standing up loudly and clearly, against a fierce societal fear and prejudice can accomplish. He created a rich and vivid message of hope and an enduring dream, teaching us how to create our own and leaving them for us to realize.
Mission and Foundation History
The Harvey B. Milk Foundation was established by Harvey’s nephew Stuart Milk, who like Harvey has chosen to speak out as an openly gay advocate for not only the LGBT community but the collective communities of people who remain marginalized or diminished by inequality in the law as well as societal inequality. Although Stuart was just 17 years old when his uncle was assassinated in public office, he has continued to spread around the globe the conversations, stories and messages that Harvey shared with Stuart.
In discussions held with the family and close Harvey allies including Harvey’s campaign manger and political aide -Anne Kronenberg, the concept of the Milk Foundation gave rise and with the vision of this group of Harvey Milk intimates the Foundation was born. Harvey believed broad public education and dialogue was paramount to his life’s work as a civil rights leader and, as if riding on Harvey’s shoulders, the Milk Foundation seeks to inspire individuals, communities and organizations to carry on his values in a timeless vision for a better world.
From targeted scholarship programs to supporting cross cultural discussions, from working to harmonize and share best advocacy practices on a global level, to Harvey’s very unique but critical focus on building a foundation for societal change through face to face conversation with communities that have traditionally opposed LGBT equality, the foundation works to realize a dream that Harvey began and that is up to all of us to create.
Stuart Milk has worked diligently to bring forward the story of his uncle, successfully collaborating with Milk day legislation sponsors Senator Leno and the California Statewide Equality Organization, EQCA, to have every May 22 permanently celebrated as Harvey Milk Recognition Day throughout California. In giving Stuart the 2009 Equality Champion Award, EQCA Director Geoff Kors said, “no one represents the legacy of Harvey Milk better then his nephew who worked tirelessly to personally get the support needed from Ambassadors, Senators, Democrats and Republicans- resulting in having the Milk Day bill being signed into law”.
Stuart Milk along with Anne Kronenberg, have traveled to nearly every corner of the world spreading Harvey’s struggle for justice, equality, and civil rights. The vital work of the Foundation Harvey inspired, like his life story, is resonating stronger each day around the globe, bringing us that much closer to the dream of full un-qualified equality.
Education
Harvey often spoke of the need for a community to pass on at the global level its own stories of strength, authenticity, value, and accomplishment. The Foundation puts particular emphasis in supporting both conventional and new forums and media for Harvey’s story and the LGBT community’s collective story to be told across broad and culturally diverse audiences.
Working with the CA Museum in Sacramento, the Foundation leadership worked to provide a year long educational and interactive exhibit geared to adults and school children that covers Harvey’s full life from Childhood and College activist in the late 1940’s to avant-garde theatre producer in the late 60’s and early 70’s to his election in San Francisco and the aftermath of his assassination.
The very first educational partnership of the Foundation is the play, “Dear Harvey – Stories of Harvey Milk” written by Patty Loughery and commissioned by the Diversionary Theatre, the Foundation and play write have partnered to provide the play to schools, universities, and community organizations throughout the US. Work is in progress to have the play translated into Spanish and Italian and the play is currently in the final stage of competition for the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, DC.
Beginning in 2009, the Foundation leadership has been working to build effective collaborative partnerships in order to enable the LGBT youth organizations to access Federal funding in the US and EU funding in Europe.
Scholarships
Because Harvey had a very special desire to empower individual youth, the foundation has set a goal to provide support in education and educational projects to young people on a international level that includes targeted educational scholarships and mentoring meant to expand cross cultural interaction and growth.
Speakers
The Speakers Bureau program established by the Harvey B. Milk Foundation is one of the most effective and popular methods of public education on the legacy of Harvey Milk. Stuart Milk has supplied Presidents, Governors, Ambassadors, schools, universities, businesses, government entities, labor unions, community-based groups, and other organizations with a personal link to Harvey the man and the leader, while lending contemporary meaning to his core beliefs and values.
In 2009 alone, Stuart Milk has spoken at events in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific, and throughout North America in venues with hundreds of thousands to more intimate gatherings at the White House, to foreign parliaments and capacity building events in individual backyard gatherings
To schedule a speaker for your special event, please contact the Foundation by contact form at MilkFoundation.org
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P.O. Box 5666, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33310-5666
