About ZAMI NOBLA
National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging
Mission: To Build a Base of Power for Black Lesbians 40+ through Advocacy, Education, and Community-Engaged Research.
Value Statement: ZAMI NOBLA operates within a feminist social justice framework, promoting health and wellness. We affirm, empower, and support each other in creating new paradigms for conscious aging. Our work is community work, it is collective work, it is communal work, it is feminist work, and it is social justice work that fights actively against racialized ageism, racism, misogynoir, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia. It is sustained work and a responsibility to forge a better world for future generations.
History:
In 2011, Mary Anne Adams—a community activist, social worker, and public health researcher in metro Atlanta—noticed a troubling trend: more and more Black lesbians over 50 were vanishing from community events and organizations. She questioned whether health challenges, a youth-centered LGBTQ culture, or racialized ageism were driving them away. Determined to create space for advocacy, support, and visibility, Adams founded ZAMI NOBLA: the National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging. By November 2015, the group secured 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Based in Atlanta, ZAMI NOBLA is the sole national organization focused on the needs and rights of Black lesbians over 40. With chapters in Georgia and North Carolina and national members, we combine advocacy, grassroots organizing, and community-led research to build power, amplify voices, and fight for justice—locally and nationwide.
ZAMI NOBLA cannot undertake this work alone; your continued support and advocacy are crucial to our ability to assist the most vulnerable among us.
As Black lesbians marginalized by age, race, gender, disability, class, and sexual orientation, we sit at the fence line of oppressions that increase invisibility and negatively impact health outcomes. Black lesbians advocating for ourselves facilitate the design of appropriate programs and interventions that respond to our lived realities, meet our expressed needs, and significantly impact health inequities. It is also an act of rebellion and self-determination.
As the only organization in the country expressly building power for Black lesbian elders by us, with us, and for us, all of our projects and programs are consistent with the aim to organize our base, build community, advance feminism, and LGBTQ rights, and increase and sustain power.
We have state chapters headquartered in Leland, North Carolina, and Atlanta Georgia.