Robert Espinoza

Robert Espinoza is the Senior Director for Public Policy and Communications at SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders), the country’s largest organization focused on improving the lives of LGBT older people. In this capacity, he established and guides SAGE's national advocacy program, which includes a federal program based in Washington, DC, as well as 23 SAGE affiliates across 16 states. He also guides SAGE’s strategic communications, which has earned widespread acclaim and numerous awards, including the 2010 GLAAD Media Award in Advertising for Outstanding Social Marketing, two awards of distinction in 2012 from the International Academy of the Visual Arts, and a 2012 nomination for a GLAAD Amplifier Award for excellence in advertising and social marketing. Robert is a regular commentator for The Huffington Post and a contributing writer to Aging Today, a newspaper of the American Society on Aging that offers expert coverage of trends, developments, and controversies in aging.

Robert leads SAGE’s efforts in the Diverse Elders Coalition, which has brought together several national organizations working with low-income elders of color and LGBT elders to advance federal policy change. In 2012, he led the national design of SAGE Story, a national digital storytelling program for LGBT elders, supported in partnership with the AARP Foundation and the Ford Foundation. He also designed SAGE’s Spousal Impoverishment Protections Initiative, which aims to secure critical protections under Medicaid for LGBT older adults in all 50 states, and in 2012, he steered the branding and online launch of SAGE’s National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, the country’s first federally supported resource center for LGBT elders. He’s currently overseeing a multi-year public policy initiative focused on LGBT elders of color, as well as a landmark national market research study of LGBT older adults, in consultation with AARP and led by Harris Interactive.

Prior to SAGE, Robert served as the Director of Research and Communications at Funders for LGBTQ Issues, where he authored historic research reports on LGBT issues in the U.S. and around the world, including a first-ever study of autonomous LGBTQ people of color organizations in the U.S. and a first-ever study of LGBTI grantmaking and non-governmental organizations in the Global South and East. He also led the research and communications strategies for the Racial Equity Initiative, which helped increase U.S. foundation giving to LGBT people of color organizations and programs—from 2008 to 2010 a total of $36 million was awarded to LGBT people of color programming nationwide. He previously served as the Director of Communications at the Service Employees International Union Local 105, where he used innovative communications strategies to improve wages and secure health benefits for thousands of Colorado healthcare and building service workers.

Robert has served on national advisory boards for the National Education Association, Justice Matters, the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Audre Lorde Project and the Funding Exchange. He received his master's degree in public policy from New York University and his bachelor's degrees in English and Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he graduated summa cum laude.