On behalf of the Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights (GRR!) Board of Directors, leadership team, and staff, we are delighted to announce that Gaylon B. Alcaraz, Ph.D., is GRR!’s next Executive Director! Dr. Alcaraz (pronouns: she/her), a prominent human rights activist and the former Executive Director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, will bring her decades of incomparable organizational expertise, powerful vision, and boundless energy for intergenerational collaboration and community work to our organization. And while her long and storied career and history of awards, organizing, and bold change-making are all impressive, first and foremost, Dr. Alcaraz says, she comes to GRR! as: “Nana”. Dr. Alcaraz shares, “I am beyond thrilled to join this amazing organization as the Executive Director! Reproductive Justice is heart work and I am here to do just that–work from my heart. As an organizer, abortion doula, and Nana, I know how critically important it is to continue to make our voices heard in this fight for bodily autonomy. We have watched reproductive rights erode before our eyes. Now is not the time to be silent; I am here to fight for the generations we will leave behind. Our children’s lives depend on it!” This work is about getting our hands dirty together – imagining and co-creating new futures, and pushing against oppression and injustice from all sides, with diverse strengths and voices. GRR! strives to be a national leader in intergenerational organizing around reproductive rights, with a focus on rigorous political education, grassroots action, collaborations that confront stigma and misinformation from anti-abortion centers, and solidarity across lines of difference. We believe Dr. Alcaraz will lead us closer to this vision while honoring our organizational values of autonomy, authenticity, justice, personal growth and power, accountability, and collaboration. “We are excited to begin this next chapter of Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights’ growth under the leadership of Dr. Gaylon Alcaraz,” said Connie Adler, MD, Board Chair of GRR!. “Gaylon brings invaluable experience as an advocate, an organizer, and an administrator. But also as a respected educator, she will guide us all as we face the barrage of threats to the well-being and empowerment of women and pregnant people in the United States. We want all people to be able to choose whether or not to have children and when, and to be able to raise those children in health and safety. We move forward, energized by Gaylon’s spirit of joy and commitment to lead us in this work.” Photograph by Molly Haley, 2024 |
Meet GRR!’s New Executive Director, Dr. Gaylon Alcaraz!.
October 10, 2024
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