Torie Osborn at the 1993 NGLTF Creating Change Conference

Torie Osborn (born July 27, 1950

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

) is a

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...

, activist, and author.

Education

Osborn attended

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

and earned her MBA at the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management (branded as UCLA Anderson) is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The school offers MBA (full-time, part-time, executive), Post Graduate Program for Executi ...

, specializing in finance.

Activism

Osborn was involved with

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

as a teenager. Her work in activism began while she was a student at Barnard College, where she participated in sit-ins, protest marches and teach-ins. In Vermont while attending Middlebury College, Osborn founded the Middlebury College Women's Union to reform women's health services on campus. In 1978 Osborn moved to San Francisco and organized against the Briggs initiative banning gay and lesbian teachers from public schools. While working for Los Angeles Mayor

Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr. on January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillary C ...

, she worked on solutions for homelessness, and supportive housing.

Career

In 1976, after teaching in community college in upstate New York, Osborn moved to Chicago to join the founding staff of ''In These Times''. In 1981, after moving to San Francisco, Osborn served as

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

Director for the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

(NOW). From 1988 to 1992, at the height of the

AIDS epidemic The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

in Los Angeles, she became the first woman executive director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Osborn then served as executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C., the nation's oldest gay and lesbian civil rights organization. From 1997 through 2005, Osborn was the executive director of the

Liberty Hill Foundation The Liberty Hill Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Sarah Pillsbury, heir to the Minnesota Pillsbury baking fortune, along with Anne Mendel, Larry Janss and Win McCormack, in 1976. Its motto is "Change. Not Charity." The name of t ...

, a Los Angeles-based non-profit dedicated to

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

. Osborn served as senior advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, working to reduce homelessness and poverty, resulting two years later in the formation of the City of L.A. Office of Strategic Partnerships, a national public-private collaboration, connecting non-profit and governmental agencies with philanthropic organizations. Osborn also served as Chief Civic Engagement Officer for the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

of Greater Los Angeles in 2009, and is currently Senior Strategist for California Calls, a network of 27 organizations throughout California committed to "common-sense" government reform including fair tax and budget policy.

Politics

In 2008, Osborn took a leave of absence from her post in Villaraigosa's office, moving to Nevada to serve as a "Super Volunteer" for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's 2008

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

. In 2012, she ran as a Democratic candidate for California's 50th State Assembly district, placing third of four candidates.

Publications

* ''Coming Home to America'' (1997

St. Martin's Griffin St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 ...

; )

References