St. James Infirmary

Our Trans Home SF is the first transitional housing program specifically for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) adults experiencing homelessness and housing instability.

Our Trans Home SF is a coalition working to address homelessness and housing instability impacting Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Even in San Francisco, which has long been a refuge for trans and GNC people, our community is 18 times more likely to experience homelessness.  Our community also continues to face discrimination, harassment, and violence when trying to access shelters and housing services.

Together we can build housing stability for our trans communities in San Francisco and be a model for the rest of the country. We believe everyone deserves a safe place to call home.

Your gracious donations will aid in providing safe and supportive housing for trans women and men of color. All donated funds will go directly towards rental support and assistance in accessing health services.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER!

Please visit us here to learn more about the organization

St. James Infirmary is thrilled to announce that we plan to start offering weekly self-defense classes for current and former sex workers this spring.  Particularly given the shifts in work conditions over the past year, it is more imperative than ever that sex workers be given the tools to keep ourselves safe.

We are partnering with the amazing Shawn Tamaribuchi of Oakland's Four Elements Fitness to provide weekly trauma-informed self-defense classes with the specific needs of sex workers in mind.  But we can't do it without your support!

Please donate and share this campaign to help us cover the costs of bringing FREE, ongoing self-defense training to Bay Area sex workers. $6,000 will fund three 6-week courses. Any additional funding raised over our goal will be used to expand the program to other locations and times to make it as accessible to as many people as possible.

More information about St. James Infirmary: St. James Infirmary is a peer-based occupational health and safety clinic for sex workers and their families. We exist to provide free, compassionate, and non-judgmental healthcare and social services for Sex Workers (current or former) of all genders and sexual orientations while preventing occupational illnesses and injuries through a comprehensive continuum of services. Check out our website for a list of services www.stjamesinfirmary.org

We are fundraising to ensure that sex workers' voices are included at the nation's most important anti-trafficking conference, in March 2019. Help us raise $5150 by February 15, 2019!

Freedom Network USA is a national alliance of anti-trafficking activists advancing a human rights- based approach to labor exploitation in the United States.  Here in San Francisco, sex workers' rights advocates have teamed up with the city's official anti-trafficking task force to form a unique and powerful coalition focused on creating greater health, safety, and protection for everyone who trades sexual services. We are raising money to get to this conference to share what we have learned and help others form similar partnerships in their home cities.

The urgency of this request is based on multiple factors - first, there is a  burgeoning interest across the US in our project, “Prioritizing Safety for Sex Workers,” which allows sex workers and trafficking victims to report violent crimes against them without risking arrest. Additionally,  the devastation that FOSTA/SESTA has wrought among sex workers and their families  demands an urgent response. Had sex workers been invited to the table from the outset, the chaos created by this legislation could have largely been avoided; it is imperative that we don't allow the same mistakes to be made again. As the saying goes, "nothing about us without us!"

This money will be used to fund the costs of air travel, lodging, food and transportation for a diverse group of current and former sex workers who have all been outspoken advocates for their respective communities. These include young people who trade sex and transgender women of color. While there sometimes seem to be endless resources available for those who claim to be doing anti-trafficking work, funding for those of us who are most directly impacted is scarce; we are calling on you, our beautiful community, to help ensure that our voices are not ignored.

Cost breakdown:

Airfare: $650 x 4 people = $2600
2 Hotel rooms for 3 nights  = $1750
Food: 5 meals @ $20 x 4 people= $400
Ground transportation: $100/ person x 4= $400

Grand total: $5,150 for 4 people
** UPDATE** The amazing folks at 3rd Wave Foundation have donated $1000, so our new goal is $4150!

Who are we?

- Pike Long, St. James Infirmary 
- Alan Gutirrez, youth organizer, formerly with LYRIC 
- Carol Leigh, BAYSWAN 
- Aria Sa'id, Kween Culture Initiative

Thank you so much for your support!

St James Infirmary is an occupational health and safety clinic for sex workers. We provide free health care and social services to people of all genders who have worked or currently work in the sex industry. 
The clinic was founded in 1999 and currently we operate out of 234 Eddy Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Eddy Street has been our home for two years, but we have outgrown the space here and are very excited to join the San Francisco Community Health Center (SFCHC) at our new location of 730 Polk Street. St James will remain in a historically significant location to the sex worker community while continuing to provide excellent care and advocacy.

Please help us with moving costs and re-establishing a beautiful new space for our staff, volunteers, participants and community members. Your donations will go towards relocation costs, renovating our new office space, and chipping away our monthly rent which will increase slightly.

"St. James Infirmary is so thrilled and excited to be moving into a Federally Qualified Health Center operated by San Francisco Community Health Center. We are looking forward to continue the work of being an independent organization run by and for sex workers while collaborating with SFCHC, Project Open Hand and Shanti,” said Toni Newman, St. James Infirmary’s Executive Director. “Throughout this move, St. James Infirmary will ensure that our programs continue seamlessly so that our clients do not experience any disruption in services. Our goal is to have a more client-centered space where our clients feel comfortable and get the best possible care from our staff.”

“We are excited to be able to offer space to St. James Infirmary. Our missions are closely aligned and we share a deep commitment to some of the most marginalized and vulnerable in our community and to provide primary medical and behavioral health care that is grounded in social justice,” said Lance Toma, SFCHC’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Having more services under one roof alongside Project Open Hand and Shanti Project will be vital to the health and well-being of everyone we collectively serve.”

The move will take place over the weeks of October 22nd to November 5th. We will have an Open House on Thursday, November 8th (more details forthcoming). Most services will remain at 234 Eddy Street until we re-open at 730 Polk Street on November 5th. 

St James is also hosting a Community Feedback Forum to get input and answer questions about the upcoming move. Please see our Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/comebystjames/

St James Infirmary is a 501 c3 Non Profit. Please contact me if you need a tax letter or more information about this campaign.

On behalf of the St James Infirmary staff and volunteers: THANK YOU! Renting in San Francisco is difficult for everyone and we could not do this without your support.

For the past 13 years, the St. James Infirmary  has operated the nations only Occupational Health & Safety Clinic by & for sex workers out of a storefront facility at 1372 Mission Street. In this building we’ve provided primary medical care, social services, mental health care, holistic care, food, clothing, education and housing assistance to more than 4,000 sex workers in the Bay Area.  Since our comrades at the TGI Justice Project moved in with us a year ago, they’ve hosted weekly letter writing nights to support and advocate for transgender, gender-variant & intersex people in prisons, jails and detention centers, and have operated a grassroots re-entry program for those returning home. Together, we’ve built an incredible community here in the middle of the SOMA.

This summer we learned our  building was being sold, and that our lease would not be renewed. We need to be out of our space by the end of the year, and we hope to start getting a new space ready before then so that we can reopen with no breaks in services. The funds raised through this campaign will help us to:

·      Pay for tenant improvements and renovations to our new space

·      Cover relocation expenses

·      Chip away the significant rent increase we know this market will demand of us

Every dollar we raise from this campaign will be matched up to $25,000 from a dreamy anonymous donor. That means we have a chance to raise the $50,000 we need for the first stage of this move in half the time! We can’t afford to miss this opportunity, which will seriously soften the blow of this difficult move. Please donate today and share this campaign with your friends.


On behalf of the entire St. James Infirmary and TGIJP family- THANK YOU!!!