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In the Non-Profit Trenches, Quattrochi Fights for People with HIV/AIDS When Gina Quattrochi left her associate director position at the New York State Nurses Association to head Bailey House, Inc., a non-profit providing housing-assistance and services for people with HIV/AIDS, Quattrochi jumped at the chance to use her legal skills for advocacy, particularly in an area she felt needed attention. At the time, she had already lost several of her friends to AIDS, including Scott Osadchey ’78. Quattrochi never imagined she’d be there today, 17 years later. Her reasons are simple: “The work is important. The battles change and the political climate changes. The epidemic still rages in many parts of the country, including New York, and all over the world.” Some 700 people with HIV/AIDS rely on her organization for housing and services. Serving four of the five boroughs, services range from permanent supportive housing to mental health and substance use services as well as a food pantry and special programs for formerly incarcerated men and women living with HIV/AIDS. Hardly a shoestring operation with a $10 million annual budget, Quattrochi raises the funds for Bailey House every year through grants and gifts. They also hold an auction annually, their flagship event for more than 1,000 people, which brings in almost 10% of the budget. Only-in-N.Y. auctioned items include: lunch with Anderson Cooper, a week at Val Kilmer’s Santa Fe Ranch, a night on the town with “All 44
My Children” star Thorsten Kaye, as well as artwork by artists Robert Mapplethorpe, William Wegman and Herb Ritts. Along with running operations and fundraising, Quattrochi spends considerable time advocating for state and federal policy. In 1993, she helped establish the National AIDS Housing Coalition and served as its President for three years. She has also served as Chairperson of the New York City AIDS Housing Network and served on federal and state advisory boards. Quattrochi has also been an adjunct professor at the New York University Wagner School for Public Service for 10 years. Over the years Quattrochi has seen the epidemic change dramatically, and, subsequently, the funding for the virus. She explained, “In ’86 people were dying rapidly. We didn’t know how AIDS was transmitted. In the next phase, people with the virus lived for three or four years. Then 10 years. And now, treatment can sustain their lives. These medical breakthroughs required us to evolve our services as the nature of the epidemic, and public sentiment, changed.” A Winding Path
After Albany Law School, Quattrochi took an associate position at the firm Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler & Krupman, performing labor law for employers. After four years, she left to become associate general counsel for the United Cerebral Palsy Association of New York State. With three years at the
$50 million association, she left for the New York State Nurses Association representing 30,000 registered nurses across the state in all aspects of collective bargaining. “This was a job well-suited for my politics and my personality.” While at the Association, she served on the board of directors of Bailey House, where she grew intimate with the organization. When the top job opened, she jumped. “I was well over my head quickly,” Quattrochi said of her early days. “I thought I knew everything as a lawyer but running an organization that serves people with AIDS was a whole other undertaking. I learned to be humble.” The mission is daunting and a matter of life or death for thousands of families, creating the impetus for Quattrochi to stay at it for almost two decades now. Quattrochi has traveled in an expert team to teach and learn from peers in South Africa and Zambia, with another team, in Cuba, where she praised the Cuban system for providing comprehensive care. “The issues remain numerous and complex,” Quattrochi said. “How we teach HIV prevention in school must change. How we approach prevention, which is related to a lot of other issues, including domestic violence, homelessness, drug use and mental illness. And of course, funding is needed for this work.” She praised Bingham McCutchen for their pro bono legal help, as well as Richards O’Neill and Bingham Dana before them, for providing around
[A]uctioned items include: lunch with Anderson Cooper, a week at Val Kilmer’s Santa Fe Ranch, a night on the town with “All My Children” star Thorsten Kaye, as well as artwork by artists Robert Mapplethorpe, William Wegman and Herb Ritts. $1million in services since 1985. Quattrochi has a son, age 13, and daughter, age 18, whom she raised with her former partner Dr. Priscilla Lenes. A dabbler in karate since her law school days, Quattrochi pursued it more intensely at age 45, earning a black belt three years later. “My favorite thing is the fullcontact fighting,” she said. “You learn the most about yourself during these times.” She called herself an “in-fighter,” leaning on strength and power, instead of a point-fighter who relies more on agility and lightness. “I’m like that at advocacy work too, but I have learned that sometimes diplomacy works better.” It may be her full-contact approach that allowed her to bring the organization from a $3 million to $10 million operation. And it’s her ability to identify and forge her own style that will likely lead her to bring Bailey House, Inc. to its next level.