About ZAMI NOBLA
National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging
Mission: To Build a Base of Power for Black Lesbians 40+ through Advocacy, Support, 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, sexism, 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 Metro Atlanta community activist, social worker, and public health community researcher, noticed that in increasing numbers, many Black lesbians older than 50 were beginning to disappear from community-based activities and organizations. She wondered if health issues, the youth-oriented LGBTQ culture, or racialized ageism might be to blame. To increase opportunities for advocacy, organizing, and social support and to explore the healthcare needs and coping strategies of Black lesbians, Adams founded ZAMI NOBLA: National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging. In November 2015, the IRS granted ZAMI NOBLA tax-exempt status as a 501 © (3) non-profit organization.
ZAMI NOBLA, headquartered in Atlanta, is the leading advocacy organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbians over 40. With active chapters in Georgia and North Carolina and a robust national membership, we prioritize advocacy alongside community organizing and community-action research. We are committed to forging a strong collective voice and advocating for the rights of Black lesbians in our communities and beyond.
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.