Emilie Tippins

“I was a preacher’s kid in a time and place where the church took care of people and wasn’t a mouthpiece for hate,” says Emilie Tippins, vice president of communications & development for Community Health Action of Staten Island. “As I got older, it became clearer that charity alone won’t dismantle the systems that keep people down. Advocates emerge from necessity and desperation as often as passion, and that’s who I want to emulate.” Today, Tippins channels her creative energy and curiosity into her work for CHASI. The nonprofit, founded in HIV/AIDS advocacy, serves almost 20,000 New Yorkers annually with services for healthcare navigation, domestic violence, substance abuse and recovery, incarceration alternatives, food pantries, and more. “I try to change the odds—making it easier for anyone to find help when they need it, encouraging people with money to donate, and helping those with influence find the words to use their power for good.” Through her job and her volunteer work at the Pride Center of Staten Island, where she also serves as Board Chair, Tippins strives to facilitate local access to free resources to make life easier for people. “Everything we know about how to help each other is innate. You hold a door, you lift half of a stroller on the train stairs—these person-to-person connections, our social ties, keep us engaged with each other.” –MH