Friendships are finally getting their due. Once relegated to a distant third position after life partners and children, a spate of new books are spotlighting the importance of friends. And research shows that people with close friends are healthier – both emotionally...
Purpose Prize
The Latest from CoGenerate
An Intergenerational Approach to Getting Families Housed in Santa Barbara
Lyiam Galo is the co-director of Generations United for Service, a program of the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way and one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing...
Utilizing Faith-Owned Land to Strengthen Intergenerational Community in Seattle
E.N. West is the co-founder and lead organizer of the Faith Land Initiative of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and...
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Suki Terada Ports
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007
Preventing HIV/AIDS among Asian Americans, women of color and immigrants
The child of parents directly affected by U.S. policies against Japanese Americans during World War II, Suki Terada Ports has dedicated her life to fighting for social justice, beginning with issues of school integration and community empowerment to ensure that housing and park land were protected from institutional expansion to quality health care access. In 1985, the New York City Council of Churches tapped Ports to organize a conference for their clergy and other community leaders about the implications of AIDS in minority communities. Issues included: dealing with stigma, fear of infection, funeral parlors that preyed upon grieving families by charging for glass in the coffin of a person who had died of AIDS and the plight of babies left in city hospitals when they became orphaned by parental AIDS deaths. The conference led to the formation of the first minority AIDS organization in NYC, which Mrs. Ports directed. This experience inspired her to help launch programs for specific communities as the National Minority AIDS Council, the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Iris House and in 1989, the Family Health Project. The Family Health Project provides HIV/AIDS prevention information, advocacy and support services for low income women of color and their families in parenting centers, schools, religious centers, and in the streets. As the Project’s executive director, Ports has helped to raise awareness among public officials, service providers and foundations about the impact of HIV/AIDS on communities of color through participation in workshops and conferences.