[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 11 (Friday, January 19, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E151]]


                        IN MEMORY OF NAOMI GRAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 19, 2007

  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, with deep sadness, I rise to pay my 
respects to one of San Francisco's most beloved and admired community 
leaders. Naomi Thomas Gray died peacefully on December 29 at Laguna 
Honda Hospital in San Francisco after a lifetime of service to our City 
and our Nation.
  Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Naomi earned a Master of Science 
Degree in Social Services at Indiana University. She moved to New York 
to work for Planned Parenthood as a field organizer, quickly rising to 
Vice President for Field Services. For two decades, she crisscrossed 
America developing community education and organizing programs for 
Planned Parenthood. She lived among migrant workers where she taught 
family planning. She forged links with black communities in the rural 
South by winning over Baptist preachers. She served as a consultant to 
family planning programs around the globe.
  Upon retirement in 1972, she turned her knowledge and might to San 
Francisco, where she became a champion of the African American and 
health communities.
  Naomi served as a consultant to numerous family planning and health 
organizations. She founded and served two terms on San Francisco's 
Health Commission, where she worked to increase access to health care 
for our City's most vulnerable and disadvantaged residents and she 
strengthened the affirmative action programs at the San Francisco 
Department of Health. She warned of the danger of HIV/AIDS to the black 
community and founded the Black Coalition on AIDS and the African 
American AIDS Leadership Group.
  She was an intrepid champion of the African American community. As 
founder and president of the Institute for Urban Affairs, she focused 
on issues of concern to African American children and families. As 
Executive Director of the Sojourner Truth Foster Family Service Agency, 
she advocated for and mentored children in the foster care system. She 
was President of the Black Leadership Forum, member of the Black 
Chamber of Commerce, and Chair of the Mayor's Task Force on Public 
Housing and the Mayor's Task Force on Children, Youth and Their 
Families.
  An advocate for excellence in education, Naomi Gray founded the 
Twenty-First Century Academic School and co-founded the African 
American Education Leadership Group.
  She received awards and commendations too numerous to list. For 30 
years, I have been blessed with her support, advice, and friendship. It 
is an honor to stand before the House to celebrate the life of San 
Francisco's beloved Naomi Gray.
  I hope it is a comfort to her loving nieces, nephews, and other 
extended family that so many people are mourning her loss and praying 
for them at this time.

                          ____________________