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#25AndBeyond: Support Affinity Community Services

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25K for 25 years: Support Affinity Community Services in Realizing Our Vision for Black LGBTQ+ Liberation on the Southside of Chicago 

Affinity Community Services is a Black-led, queer-led organization on Chicago's Southside that has existed for 25 years. For 25 years, Affinity Community Services has worked to end the marginalization of Black LGBTQ+ people globally. With intergenerational Black lesbian women taking the lead from the very beginning of the organization’s story and centering Black queer women in its' work,  the organization not only offers healing spaces for Black LGBTQ+ people to express their activisms. It also creates communities that center healing and emergency response networks of support for collective community care. 

In the midst of a global pandemic, Black people around the world (alongside NBPOC and white folks who march in solidarity) are risking their lives to continue in the protest for Black liberation. As someone who has been doing racial justice work for several years, we know that there are many folks who still believe that Black Lives Matter unless they are the lives of Black queer people, Black lesbians, Black trans women, Black nonbinary people, Black bisexual people, Black intersex people, and more. 

Our Black LGBTQ+ lives matter.

Our lives matter too.

For centuries, Black LGBTQ+ people have taken the lead against anti-Black racism.

For centuries, we have taken the lead. And for centuries we have taken the lead in the fight against anti-Black racism. Not only in the face of anti-Black racism but also in the face of systemic homophobia and systemic transphobia. The same anti-Black homophobia and transphobia that has taken the lives of those we called our sisters, our brothers, our mothers, our friends, our family.

We are creating a new world where all Black people can be free. 

We realize that for many of you this is your first introduction to Affinity. We invite you to add us to your list of Black-led organizations working to center, honor, celebrate, and support Black LGBTQ+ people around the world. We also want to spotlight the importance of helping us to keep our 25-year legacy alive. Please continue to uplift us and support us. 

In this second week of Pride Month, we are raising 25K for 25 years of Affinity Community Services’ commitment to Black LGBTQ+ people. These funds will be used to further the expansion of our services to support Black LGBTQ+ people in the fight for Black lives, an education fund established to help us support community-led education on the topics of healing justice, conflict de-escalation, emergency response intervention, and transformative community care. 

We are asking you for your support in meeting this goal of 25K for 25 years and in supporting Affinity's work for the next 25.

Because we believe in Affinity. 

Because we believe in Black women. 

Because we believe in Black queer people. 

Because we believe in Black LGBTQ+ liberation. 


Because we believe in Affinity’s legacy and we want Affinity to be honored and celebrated as an organization that has given so much to see our collective vision for Black liberation be realized. 

We believe we will win. 

Now is the time. 

#WeAreAffinity
#IAmAffinity
#25AndBeyond

#BlackTransLivesMatter
#BlackLivesMatter 

____________________________

ALL funds donated here will be distributed directly to Affinity Community Services with no exceptions. No amount is too small!

LEARN MORE ABOUT WHO WE ARE

We're launching this fundraiser the same day that Affinity Community Services has announced McKensie Mack as Executive Director. Learn more about Affinity Community Services below.

To learn more about Affinity Community Services and to become a member of our community, visit our website here. You can also visit us on Instagram and Facebook here. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT MCKENSIE MACK 

McKensie Mack (Pronouns: They|Them |Theirs) is a Black, queer, nonbinary facilitator, racial justice educator, researcher, digital organizer who became the Executive Director at Affinity Community Services on June 8, 2020. To learn more about McKensie Mack's work, visit their website here. You can also find their Instagram here

Please DONATE and SHARE.

We thank you for supporting this campaign. 

Sincerely, 

Affinity Community Services
McKensie Mack  
Elizabeth Sampson 
Leon J. Evans 
Phillip Lambert 
Angela Little

Donations 

  • Chelsea Fuller
    • $600 
    • 4 yrs
  • Linda Buscjing
    • $25 
    • 4 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $5 
    • 4 yrs
  • Chelsea Fuller
    • $157 
    • 4 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $7 
    • 4 yrs

Fundraising team: Team #25KAndBeyond (4)

McKensie Mack
Organizer
Chicago, IL
Angie Little
Team member
Elizabeth Metzger Sampson
Team member
Phillip Lambert
Team member

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