Also recognize that I am not claiming credit for inventing these projects, nor for being the only one involved. I am simply claiming a just acknowledgement of the work I did and, hopefully, some of the spin-off good feelings that come from trying to make the planet a bit better than we found it!

Call or write for more information on these or my current work: 916 730 2801 .... AllanShore@msn.com

➢ International AIDS Candlelight Memorials: This event was, in the early 1980s, the precursor to what now happens for World AIDS Day. Initiated by Mobilization Against AIDS in SF, the purpose was to pull together local and national gatherings of activists and policymakers to give testimony to the true scope of HIV/AIDS. During my tenure (1985-1987) I successfully broadened the scope of this effort from one that had about 50 participating nations to one that involved over 200 locations worldwide, including first-time activities by Eastern European and even communist countries (where participants put themselves at risk of jail or death to be open about their fears). It ultimately grew to the point where the first Bush Administration even participated by placing candles in the windows of the White House. This “World Leaders” initiative led many other presidents and prime ministers to participate until the idea was subsumed by World AIDS Day activities.

➢ SF AIDS Dance-a-thon: This event grew in parallel to the just-beginning SF AIDS Walk-a-thon. It involved 12-24 hours of sponsored dancing at one or more local dance clubs. Prior to my involvement as coordinator the event raised about $40,000 per year for SF AIDS advocacy efforts. It then grew to more than $500,000 per year within two years.

➢ National Entrepreneurial Vocational Training Model for Homeless/Formerly Homeless Adults: Rubicon Programs, Inc., is a very large nonprofit in Richmond, California, now operating on a budget of over $10 million and offering nationally recognized, entrepreneurial-inspired vocational training and homeless assistance services (www.RubiconPrograms.org). I was the develop director/consultant involved for the initiation of these efforts. When I started the agency had an annual budget of about $600,000. I helped them undertake a capital campaign to purchase their now current headquarters at the same time that we found the funding needed to begin their job-training and food service program components (including a model project of the Roberts Enterprise Development Foundation, which can now be seen at www.redf.org).

➢ Making the Peace: As the first paid Executive Director of the Oakland Men’s Project (now defunct), we grew this small agency into a nationally recognized leader for engaging men (and white folks) to be allies with women (and people of color) to challenge the root causes of violence and oppression. It was so successful that it became the recognized model for violence prevention in locations like the State of Ohio and the District of Columbia and we even participated in White House planning sessions. The Making The Peace project was a school-based project first used in the Albany Unified Schools as a model for understanding and alliance building between parents, teachers, students and the community as a whole. This model has subsequently been presented in a series of books and related publications by authors Paul Kivel (www.PaulKivel.com) and Allan Creighton (et al).

➢ Take Our Daughters To Work Day: The Oakland Men’s Project was directly involved in the design and implementation of the first boy’s component of this world-respected effort to educate girls and boys about workplace and gender discrimination—and opportunity. Most people do not realize that the project was geared for girls directly but it included a companion component so that while the girls were at work the boys would be at school learning about why there was a need for a day dedicated to girls. The overwhelming prejudice against such a successful project that focused first and foremost on girls and women ultimately led to the failure of the effort to gain the financial stability and commitments it deserved. It was actually this project and the underlying philosophical disputes that most likely ultimately led to the demise of OMP as an independent nonprofit agency (in my opinion).

➢ Forgotten Scouts Initiative with The United Way: When the issue of the discriminatory practices of the Boy Scouts of America appeared on the radar screen of America it did so because of particular cases the originated in Contra Costa County. This ultimately led two friends and I (one of whom was the grandson of the founder of the Boy Scouts of America) to openly challenge the BSA organization and its horrible prejudices against an intelligent understanding of human sexuality for young people. We started Forgotten Scouts as an informal organization to have a voice with United Way leaders around the country. Other groups subsequently came forward in various towns and communities and fought their own battles until individual advocates began to take up the challenges themselves. But the change in policies by the United Way of the Bay Area and collaborating associations across the nation successfully disconnected the BSA from the UW and led to specific educational efforts that strengthened the diversity commitments of community funders.

➢ Human Relations/Drug Abuse Commissioner (Contra Costa County): At the same time that Contra Costa County was struggling with the notoriety of the Boy Scouts issue, they were also facing prejudice within their city around HIV/AIDS. For this reason I was appointed by the County Board of Supervisors to help create their first Human Relations and Drug Abuse Advisory boards. This move signaled the critical need for heightened awareness of these issues in conservative suburban areas and ultimately led to other communities taking similar steps to create advisory bodies that are now seen as commonplace and critically important.

➢ Transportation Advisor (City of Alameda/Alameda Point): Beginning around 1997 I moved to the City of Alameda and became involved as the Assistant Director of Xanthos, a widely respected local service provider for counseling, Head Start and health and community services. As a result of numerous accomplishments for this agency and my known interest in public transportation/transit, I was selected to help form the City’s first far-reaching Transportation Advisory Board. This body ultimately served to fully incorporate local voices and concerns into the planning of AC Transit’s activities throughout the City and in the newly emerging Alameda Point (Alameda Naval Air Station). The City now proudly uses our work to showcase the role such an advisory board can play in making sound decisions and bringing together many stakeholder groups.

➢ California Youth Empowerment Day of Recognition California Coalition for Youth, Executive Director: I took the position of executive director of the California Child, Youth and Family Coalition in 2001 because it would provide me, for the first time, the opportunity to work with an agency that had had until that time nearly 20 years of state budgetary support for its direct services (the California Youth Crisis Line) at the same time that it was committed to advocacy for youth voices in Sacramento (particularly through the violence and teen pregnancy prevention initiatives of the California Wellness Foundation). In taking the job, it was made very clear that the board of directors wanted to utilize my skills to grow and solidity the youth development work of the agency while continuing our role as an advocacy association for youth social service agencies. Within three months, however, the State of California, in the first rounds of what would become the ongoing budget disputes, cut some 62% of our funding while requesting that the program components remain fully operational. That move caused massive damage to the agency and forced me to have to spend nearly all of my time fighting for stable and new funding. Nevertheless, we still accomplished many activities that I believe contributed to the growing acceptance of youth development ideas in California. The most significant of these accomplishments were:

• CCY’s active involvement in keeping numerous programs that fund CBOs in place through the early round of cuts.
• CCY’s direct involvement in making sure that youth voices were heard in the budget cutting process. (We had statewide press conferences and initiated a “Don’t Cut Me Out” campaign.)
• We identified young people directly who would be publicly involved in such activities as the State’s Homeless Task Force and subsequent budget initiatives (including the recent affordable housing and after-school voter initiatives).
• We played a major role in getting the emerging 211 systems to include existing crisis resources (such as the California Youth Crisis Line that received over 20,000 calls per year).
• We gave direct voice to young people on many specific pieces of legislation dealing with violence prevention and teen pregnancy prevention initiatives.
• And we collectively wrote (with over 200 young people) a state resolution that officially recognized youth develop as a concept and creates March 28th as an annual day of recognition for the policy accomplishments of California’s young people.

➢ Shiroco's Art/FoodGarden: This is my partner, Erick Martinez's, steps toward developing a retail store in Benicia, CA, featuring his artwork, flowers and the flavors and fragrances of our worldly experiences. This project is just beginning and can be viewed in its early virtual state at http://Shirocos.info. You can also see here some of what others have said:

And finally, I can be bought for consultant wages: