Title
Honoring the legacy of lifelong Saint Paul resident Barbara Satin upon her retirement.
Body
Whereas, Barbara Satin, a transgender activist who has worked on issues of aging, faith, and gender justice, will retire from a long and successful career in advocacy and step down as Faith Work Director at the National LGBTQ Task Force, where her responsibilities included working for the full inclusion of trans persons in communities; and
Whereas, Barbara Satin provided leadership for the development of Spirit on Lake, an affordable LGBTQ senior housing project - only the second such project in the United States - an early and pioneering development in the growing field of advocacy for creating housing for LGBTQ elders; and
Whereas, in 2015, Barbara Satin was one of three LGBTQ people invited to participate for the first time in the White House Conference on Aging, and in 2016, was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Presidential Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and in 2021, she was a prayer leader for President Biden’s Inaugural Breakfast; and
Whereas, in 2022, Barbara Satin, focused on passage of the Equality Act, recruited faith leaders in eight states to meet with senators to ensure their voices were heard through the media, with clarion calls for a federal solution to the ongoing problem of discrimination; and
Whereas, Barbara Satin has served on over 100 Minnesota nonprofit boards, chairing many of them, including Landmark Center, PFUND, GLBT Generations, and several other nonprofits that serve LGBTQ people in the areas of community activism, philanthropy, training of senior care providers and HIV/AIDS services; and
Whereas, Barbara Satin, as a senior corporate public affairs executive earlier in her career, was among the most active and effective community leaders in Saint Paul, providing unparalleled leadership on several City of Saint Paul boards and commissions where she initiated highly innovative practices that empowered neighbors as partners in community development; and
Whereas, Barbara Satin served for over a decade as chair of Saint Paul’s Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) committee, transforming its operation, and personally reaching out to all 17 contiguous community planning district councils to ensure their participation in directing funding and establishing the city’s community development priorities: and
Whereas, Barbara Satin, as a member of the Saint Paul Planning Commission, combined her capital improvement budgeting know-how with the city’s long range planning efforts to establish a process for phasing development and sequencing the city’s financial investments, leading to a more strategic and efficient use of resources; and
Whereas, Barbara Satin has been described by her peers as a “force of radical faith - a faith that is open, fierce, welcoming and transformative”; now therefore be it
RESOLVED that the Saint Paul City Council does hereby recognize and honor lifelong Saint Paul resident Barbara Satin following decades of leadership and advocacy for gender justice, and for her diligence and commitment to refining city process and governance in service to the City of Saint Paul and its neighborhoods.