To honor #BlackHistoryMonth, we are lifting up stories of LGBTQ+ Black-led organizations making history now in the Northwest. Throughout February, we’ll be sharing stories on our Facebook and Twitter featuring Black LGBTQ+ leaders and organizations making history in the Northwest through their incredible work serving Black LGBTQ+ communities locally.
#GranteeSpotlight: Based in Seattle-Tacoma, Lavender Rights Project (LRP) elevates the power, autonomy, and leadership of the Black intersex & gender diverse community through intersectional legal and social services in the Seattle-Tacoma area. LRP is creating a world in which the Black and Indigenous gender diverse communities are at the forefront of liberation and recognized for their power to build. Get involved with history in the making at lavenderrightsproject.org
#GranteeSpotlight: Founded in June of 2020, Inclusive Idaho is already #MakingBlackHistory. Following the organization of a Vigil for Black Lives at the Idaho State Capitol, Inclusive Idaho was born: a BIPOC-led group whose mission is to grow inclusion, belonging, and access for historically excluded communities in Idaho. Learn more and get involved at inclusiveidaho.org
#GranteeSpotlight: Based in Portland, OR, Freedom to Thrive (FTT) creates leaderful movements that center healing, wellness, and safety outside of policing, by convening spaces of shared learning and political education through a pro-Black, gender-affirming lens. Centering abolition in all programming, FTT trains and helps build capacity for community leaders and organizations. Learn more at freedomtothrive.org
#GranteeSpotlight: Based in Seattle, WA, Liberation Medicine School is an emerging collective of Black trans and queer organizers whose mission is to develop a decolonial and Afro-Indigenous-rooted healthcare system—primarily in the form of a medical center and affiliated teaching programs—that fosters medical autonomy within the diasporic Afro-LGBTQ+ community. Their work finds new and innovative ways to support the continued healing and liberation of Black, African, and Indigenous queer and trans folks. Learn more at liberationmedicine.org.
Photo courtesy of The Black Trans Prayer Book
#GranteeSpotlight: You may know The Black Trans Prayer Book as the first-of-its-kind multi-dimensional collection of stories, poems, prayers, meditations, spells, and incantations of Black trans & non-binary people; or, as the organizers offering healing retreats for Black trans & non-binary folks, performance events, and workshops on liberation theology, theology for survivors, and sacred sex work. They are currently working on their largest project to date: turning their book into a documentary following 20+ Black trans & non-binary spirit workers and artists! Learn more at theblacktransprayerbook.org
Photo courtesy of PDX Sex Worker Resource Project
#GranteeSpotlight: The PDX Sex Worker Resource Project (PDX SW RP) is a mutual aid effort that distributes low-barrier financial relief to sex workers in the Portland metro area. Rooted in the understanding that BIPOC sex workers are often navigating complex systemic oppression, generational trauma, and have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, PDX SW RP aims to provide support in an equitable, trauma-informed, and transparent manner. Learn more & support their work at pdxswrp.org
Photo courtesy of Brown Hope
#GranteeSpotlight: Brown Hope creates community-driven solutions for racial justice and builds spaces for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people to be seen, to love, and to lead. Since its inception, Brown Hope has led local Portland-based initiatives and programs to make justice a lived experience, including their Black Resilience Fund, Power Hour healing spaces, Solidarity Squad mutual aid distribution, Blackstreet Bakery, and more. Check out their work at brownhope.org
Photo courtesy of FEEST
#GranteeSpotlight: Based in South Seattle and South King County, FEEST focuses on the need for more healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant food in schools. Working at the intersections of queer, food, and social justice, FEEST youth have won more fresh & culturally relevant foods on lunch menus, and also recently won the creation of a new committee of FEEST youth leaders to advise the Seattle Public School’s Director of Nutrition Services. As a school-based program, FEEST has had to entirely shift its program since COVID-19 to meet the basic needs of students (like groceries and WiFi access), and partner with local organizing efforts to move police out of schools. Keep up with all their incredible work at feestseattle.org