Hello my dear friends, family and whomever else may happen to come across my funding campaign, welcome!

For those of you who don't know, my name is Alisha, my pronouns are (she/they) and I'm a 2nd generation Jamaican-Canadian settler fortunate to be residing on the unceded ancestral stolen lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

In November of 2020, I was accepted into Simon Fraser University's Creative Writing program, the Writer's Studio for poetry and prose writing. From the get go, the tuition aspect of my participating in the program was precarious. After petitioning to the program the inaccessibility of their requirement for students to pay the full tuition up front and not have any option for a payment plan method, I learned that my effort to speak truthfully about my situation and ask for the help I needed, paid off. I secured a 4-tier payment installment arrangement throughout my 1 year program and I was blessed to actually have an individual in my theatre community offer to loan me the amount for my first installment. I can't be writing this without acknowledging this one individual's huge heart and willingness to help a fellow artist in need.

I'm coming to you now because despite the loan I received and despite having been able to pay off my second installment myself with all that I had left in my savings, I'm back at a point where I just don't have the funds to pay this next installment due June 11th. I've also just moved to a new home where rent is more, so having to have paid a month and a half's worth of rent at a higher rate was a big cost for June and also contributed to the lack of funds I could put towards my tuition.

The amount I'm asking for is a combination of my 3rd and final installment due June 11 and Sept 13. With another $500 included towards acquiring a laptop platform, keyboard, mouse and some maintenance for my laptop which is quite old and could use a refurbish to function more optimally for my studies. The platform and keyboard (and potentially padding for my chair) will support posture while working for hours at my desk. The current set up I've had has been detrimental to my back, neck, shoulders and hips - I'm needing to redefine my work station because my body, particularly my back body, has been in increasing pain.

Lastly, the idea of community support. As I've experienced it first hand a few times this past year and a half, and as I've also done my best to show up physically and financially for others in need, I cannot accept any amount of financial support without actively practicing reciprocity. During this time, especially right now with the recent atrocities discovered in the Kamloops residential school, the remains of 215 Indigenous children who were stolen from their families and taken to essentially genocidal schools - I will be donating a yet to be determined amount of what I receive to a couple of personally selected Indigenous artists I follow on IG who are doing such amazing activism and artistic work within their communities and as a whole. I encourage you all (If you haven't already) to also consider donating to the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society and the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. I stand in complete solidarity with all First Nations Peoples.

Thank you SO MUCH ya'll for your kindness and support. It means the world to me!!

With much love,

Alisha