Support Immigrant Trans Adult Housing
Thank you for taking the time to read our fundraiser and for supporting Immigrant Trans Adult Housing!
This fundraiser is for a collaboration between CasaBITS, They/Them Collective, and Centro Internacional Arcoiris ICA.
CasaBITS, aka BITSafehaus, is a community Haus for Black & Indigenous Transgender & Intersex People of Color who suffer from chronic housing & employment inequality (centering Families, Deaf people, Undocumented people, & Femme folks, folks 25+ years old, Disabled people, returning citizens, and Migrants from US South), providing Housing Justice in unceded Piscataway land (Northeast, Washington, D.C.). We provide no-cost housing and meeting space for people in this demographic who are in need of a place to live or meet, but are unable to due to in-access to documentation, language skills, passing privilege, and much more. Our collective has created a community of folks working together to reach liberation for us, our families, and our communities. Our BITSafehaus Members are scattered across the city in their individual homes, as well as in 2 managed apartments in Ward 5 (one in Ivy City, the other in Trinidad).
They/Them Collective is an anarcho-abolitionist collective house for queer, enby, trans, black, brown, and indigenous liberation, based in occupied Piscataway land.
Centro Internacional Arcoiris ICA is a human rights defender that provides direct services to Immigrant Transgender and LGBQ individuals., such as healthcare & legal navigation, rent support, protest, and much more.
Our coalition would love to raise $15,000 to pay for the operations of our community during this pandemic. We have recently received a local grant to support our April/May operations, and we are in need of finding support for the future!
These are some of our costs for the next six months that we need support with:
Rental Costs: $2500 x 6 months = $15,000
Food Costs: $666 x 6 months = $4,000
GoFundMe Fees: $1,000
The BITSafehaus team is made up of directors, house managers, student residents, volunteers, homeschool students, and sibling suportees, Our Leadership Team include an Accessibility Director (Asteria Summers), a Family Care Director (Ahanu Tapepechul), a Latinx Services Director (Alexa Elizabeth Rodriguez), an Resident Education & Operations Director (Petrona Tapepechul), and an Accomplice Mobilization Director/1854 Kendall St. Tenant Association Representative for BITSafehaus (Dee Martin).
For the past year, CasaBITS has been collaborating with They/Them Collective, a Trans housing project that centers Non-Binary people of Color, (Director, Michael Basilas) and have recently rented a second apartment together to support our community during COVID-19 and beyond. CasaBITS has also been collaborating with Centro Internacional Arcoiris ICA to provide direct support to Immigrant Trans Adults and protest at embassies and consolates regarding human rights violations against the Trans community by Latin American countries. Our coalition has a goal of expanding capacity for the community in need very soon, with the rental of a house for Immigrant Trans Adults. We need your help to keep our people homed, together, and thriving well past when this pandemic is over.
Spread the word about CasaBITS, They/Them Collective, & Centrol Internacional Arcoiris; and help us get the support we need to support our community! Invite your community networks to this fundraiser and help keep Immigrant Trans Adults in DC housed!
