Gloria Milliken began her career by taking on New York City’s housing bureaucracy to help East Harlem residents and founded six separate housing improvement organizations. These organizations have improved the lives of thousands of New Yorkers. She was involved in more than 100 tenant associations. Organizations she co-founded include ANHD, Housing Conservation Coordinators, which creates low and moderate-income homeownership opportunities from abandoned buildings for the Hell’s Kitchen community. She was motivated to action by seeing the grit and resilience of the tenants with whom she worked, despite the injustices, and the hardships that they faced. The New York Women’s Foundation was catapulted from idea to reality through the generosity, the persistence, and the rolled-up-sleeves hard work of a small group of far-sighted women led by Gloria Milliken and Helen LaKelly Hunt. “The New York Women’s Foundation was actually all Gloria’s idea,” recalls Hunt. “She had this incredible mix of qualities. She was a delightful, high-spirited woman. She was an activist; she ran nonprofits of her own. She had passion, knowledge, tenacity, vision, and resources including a Rolodex packed with phone numbers of high-net-worth women in New York City. Gloria came to me because she knew I had planted the seed and helped start the Dallas Women’s Foundation, and said: ‘Let’s start a women’s foundation here, Helen!’ I was excited, of course, but one thing gave me pause. I was a newcomer to the city; I didn’t have the contacts that I did in Dallas. I said: ‘Gloria, I wouldn’t begin to know whom to call.’ Gloria then leaned forward, looked over her glasses, and said: ‘Yes, but I know everyone.’ ” In the spring of 1986, a diverse group of women gathered in an Upper East Side living room to lay the groundwork to make a radical idea come to life: The New York Women’s Foundation. This new foundation would be run by, supported by, and dedicated to the progress of women. The founders channeled all their energies towards expanding women’s access to three core components of advancement and well-being: economic security, freedom from violence and exploitation, and access to reproductive health and choice. They concentrated all their efforts within primarily low-income communities of color—where access to those assets had historically been most limited. And they carried out their work using a set of practices that were rarely embraced in the philanthropic world. The founders quickly realized that to be successful, they had to build an alliance of women that went far beyond their own networks. They had to include women of all backgrounds and means, from all across the city and beyond. And most importantly, this alliance would include grassroots women leaders who work with communities as the true experts in the field. They would be full partners in all Foundation efforts. They chose to: • Be bold funders of women building solutions in their communities. • Invest in women’s leadership by providing training, coaching, and fostering connections with other leaders. • Be respectful of the approaches proposed by community leaders. • Provide consistent, reliable, and meaningful grants—both in size and duration. Gloria Milliken, sadly, did not live to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the wonderful institution that she helped create. Her legacy is reflected, however, in The Foundation’s every achievement; and her vivid presence shines through in the affectionate recollections of her contemporaries • Commit to broad inclusivity and partnership. In the three short decades since its launch, The Foundation has parlayed its trailblazing approaches towards achieving ever-increasing reach and influence. It has granted a cumulative $69 million to more than 370 women-led community organizations across the 5 boroughs that work on economic security; safety and anti-violence; and health, sexual rights, and reproductive justice.