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#NoBanNoWall: QDEPs Winter Campaign to Fight Back!

We've already seen hate in our streets and what a reality will look like. Our winter funding drive is focused on building capital to resist this hate and fight back.

Leader

Jamila Hammami

Location

521 W 126th St. New York, NY 10027

About the project

QDEP just turned three years old on January 1st, 2017! We’ve had the pleasure of serving so many folks! This has been thanks to the broader community and individuals like you.

Now, we have to fight a wall and a ban-- we need your help. Support our work and support LGBTQI migrants that often make the walk through the desert to the US border to seek asylum, or trans and queer folks from Muslim countries that come here seeking refuge and to be able to be their full selves without fear of violence.

A letter from two of our members:
“Hello, we are Chelo and Skarlett! We are a couple who have been together since 2012. I, Chelo, am a transgender man and Skarlett, my partner, is a bisexual woman.
In January 2016 we were released from our places of detention. Skarlett was previously incarcerated, and now is on probation.
I, Chelo, came out of detention, thanks to my political asylum. Due to the time we spent inside of jail and then detention, we lost everything economically speaking, and also left detention with very poor health, both physically and mentally. We were scared that Skarlett’s permanent residency was going to be taken away.
After being released, we learned about QDEP, they have helped us to move forward. Since we were connected with them, we have been provided financial assistance for transportation, food and housing expenses. We have also been referred to health clinics, and now have Medicaid. We obtained very detailed informational assistance regarding education centers and job search connections. In the same way, we have received legal assistance from QDEP. Skarlett was experiencing harassment from her probation officer in New Jersey after she was released from jail. The probation officer forced Skarlett to travel from New York to New Jersey multiple times a month, would not be at the appointments when she arrived, and then arrested her for not appearing at court when she never received notification to appear. QDEP went to court with us many times and discussed these conditions with the judge. QDEP helped us obtain a better public defender to represent Skarlett and now Skarlett does not experience harassment from her probation officer. She also only has to call into her probation and we are working to file an appeal for her case now that we have proper representation.
QDEP has done a lot for us!
And in the same way, has done much for many other people who have needed the help and the services that this organization provides. For this reason, we are, and will remain, firmly grateful until the end for all the support we have received and will continue to receive from QDEP. We thank QDEP tirelessly!!!”
- Chelo Silva

What will your gifts fund?

  • Queer Family Dinner: Each week, we have an hour of programming, whether it’s yoga for survivors, art therapy, our collective meetings (where all of QDEP’s decision making happens), our workshops, or our Undocutrans/queer support group. Post programming, we have a (queer) nutritious family dinner together, talk about our week, how things have been going, how our health is, our families back home, how we are adjusting to American life, and more.
  • Work Transition Program: Many of our members struggle to find work due to a multidue of barriers, includng language barriers, homophobia, transphobia and/or xenophobia. It leaves out members in a place where they are unable to work, unable to pay their rent, and unable to care for themselves, while also not being eligible for state services like SNAP (food stamps). QDEP has responded to this by building a program until folks are able to find safe and stable work, at a living wage, and can transition into work into the community, we provide our members a living- wage stipend for volunteering at their time to support other LGBTQI migrants. This is a program that has been specifically built for our folks that have recently been released from immigration detention.
  • Transit Access: Transit allows our member to travel and speak about QDEP, who we are, the work that we do, to build community support, and to provide more support to folks in the community. Transit is one of the hugest obstacles for our members. It is the difference between coming to an organizing meeting, being a part of an action, spending time with their family at QDEP, being a part of our Queer Roots therapeutic gardening program, going to medical appointments, mental health services, picking up food from the food pantry, or having queer family dinner with us. Transit assists the Immigrant Women's InterTransGenerational Group, QDEP’s member- lead Transgender Women of Color immigrant support and community group, to promote and come together for the weekly support group that is beginning this winter! 
  • Immigrant Women's InterTransGenerational Group: QDEP’s member- lead Transgender Women of Color immigrant support and community group, to promote and come together for the weekly support group that is beginning this winter! We are extremely excited to begin this peer- lead group! This group will serve Immigrant Trans Women of Color and are/have been in detention, seeking some form of immigration relief, and/ or undocumented. The programming for this group will range from support group, to yoga for survivors, to educational workshops, organizing trainings, know-your-rights trainings, self- defense workshops, HIV is not a crime, sexual/reproductive health workshops, and so much more! We will also be providing a nutritious dinner and a round trip train card to all that attend. 49% of Transwomen being HIV+, it is even more important for QDEP to provide the healthiest meal that we can.
  • Post- Release Care Package Program: When our siblings are released from immigration detention, they are released without any money or food. Help us help our folks when they’re released, with an unlimited roundtrip MTA card for a week, to take folks to the doctor for check- ups, mental health appointments, housing appointments, HRA appointments, and to seek work. This funding will also assist with a week’s worth of groceries until the member adjusts to the train system.
     
In the political climate that we're in, it's becoming more and more clear, that we're needed more than ever.

The Steps

For grassroots programs like QDEP, community is our largest asset; that has been clear over the course of our short life, in that we have been so fortunate to grow so quickly in such a short time. Our funding needs to grow organically from those that center our politics in their everyday lives, folks that are dedicated community members, and those that are on the periphery that are allied with our membership seeking a world without detention, and dignity for all.

Why we‘re doing it

We wont stand for an era of hate and violence, we are challenging the hate narrative brought on by Trump and his supporters. Support us in shifting the narrative from hate in this era to supporting the freedom of LGBTQI migrants.

$0.47 still needed of $4,823.00