Grant Awarded to Transgender Advocacy Group – Hearts on a Wire Addresses Injustice in Prisons
Philadelphia – A grassroots organization of formerly incarcerated transgender people and allies has been awarded a grant of $4,500 by the Bread & Roses Community Fund. The group plans to use its grant to publish and distribute a report entitled, “Glitter is not Allowed: Experiences of Trans and Gender Variant People in Pennsylvania’s Prison Systems”.
“Prison is not safe place to be for anyone, but for trans people it’s worse,” said Pascal Emmer, a member of Hearts on a Wire. “The report we’re issuing will prove that and become a powerful tool to force changes in our criminal justice system to protect trans people. It will also address the root causes leading to incarceration for many trans people.”
Hearts on a Wire was founded in 2007 by an informal gathering of trans and gender variant people who had experience with the criminal justice system. From beatings to rapes to denial of medications, incarcerated transgender and gender variant people face many risks. The group’s report, which will be issued this fall, will provide more details on prison conditions as well as recommendations from transgender prisoners themselves on how to address these issues.
“This is the first grant Bread & Roses has offered to a criminal justice collective focused exclusively on transgender issues,” said Casey Cook, executive director. “Hearts on a Wire is led by passionate activists who will work to organize transgender people and their allies on the outside, as well as the inside, to make real change in our criminal justice system.”
The Bread & Roses board voted to disperse $55,000 to a total of 12 groups in a vote on Friday of last week through the Fund’s Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative. In addition to Hearts on a Wire, grants were also awarded to Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and the National Lawyers Guild, among others.
The Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative is a donor-advised fund that provides grants for criminal justice reform activism. Decisions about grants are made by a committee of activists and family members of the late Phoebe Valentine, a social justice philanthropist who endowed the fund.
“The additional stresses that trans people endure in prisons have pushed some to contemplate suicide,” said Tyson Smith, Phoebus committee member. “Hearts on a Wire is ending the trend of allowing people to suffer in silence. More than ever, we need to confront the criminal justice system and protect the rights of transgender people.”
About Bread & Roses:
Bread & Roses has provided grants to local organizations working on social, racial and economic justice for over 31 years. Thousands of area residents support social justice through Bread & Roses grant making and advocacy initiatives with gifts ranging from $5 to $50,000 a year. Grantees work on a range of issues from criminal justice reform to opposing casinos to environmental justice to farm worker rights and more. Bread & Roses has been able to offer grants to over 40 organizations working for real change this year alone.
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Ashley Wilson
Barbara Smith Community School and Communications Intern
Bread & Roses Community Fund
tel. 215.731.1107 x208
www.breadrosesfund.org
