Help 4 Trans Creatives Secure Housing
Donation protected
Luka here *waves* In order to secure suitable housing that isn’t temporary, me, Liberty, Ariel, and Ramses need help getting funds together in a short amount of time. For those who don’t know us, we are 4 Black and Brown trans creatives looking for housing around NY, and we only have about 2 months to get as much money as we can together. We are definitely some of the many people affected by this COVID-19 pandemic in some big ways, financially and health-wise especially. For context, I’m a disabled 23 year old man of trans experience currently staying in Brooklyn with my son, my little furball, Lincoln. My 9-5 job is currently shut down because it’s a non-essential business and the freelance work hasn’t been enough to help with all my bills + medical expenses (thankfully generous folks on Twitter have helped out when I really needed it most). I’m not even looking to receive a stimulus check anytime soon due to some issues with my updated file information, so I don’t have that as an extra cushion towards housing either. Not to mention I’ve also been dealing with being sick off and on for the last few months. Ariel and Liberty live in Jersey with Ariel’s mom + sisters, but the apartment was put up for sale and that housing is no longer a stable option. On top of that, because of Ariel’s mom’s immune system being compromised due to having lupus, they have been quarantined in Brooklyn with me since the quarantine started. I was told on Monday that I need to be out by June 30th, and unfortunately the owner of the spot also isn’t allowing Liberty to quarantine here any longer, so the request for financial support is even more urgent. This was a temporary housing situation to provide me some relief after an unfortunate situation with former roommates led to my homelessness, and she is understanding that I need a little extra time because of the pandemic, but the window is closing and even though I know I cannot technically be evicted from this place, I absolutely do not have the physical or mental capacity to deal with any issues that could arise from me being here any longer than 2 months. We had all been putting money aside up until this pandemic/quarantine put everything on hold, including most of our incomes, so having to rely on what money we did have left for food, medicine, bills, and everyday necessities for ourselves + Lincoln means that our housing savings is quite small now compared to what we need to make this move happen as quickly as we need it to happen.
The places we’ve been looking at, on average, cost about $2500/month which was expected. We also have 3 cats between us, all of whom will be moving into this new space also. The biggest issues are (1) having enough money to secure housing, cover move-in costs and at least one solid month of rent, utilities, & groceries to help give us some footing while continuing to get through this pandemic. This is why we’re reaching out to community to assist us. Any money that is not needed after everything is taken care of will be donated back to the community through fundraisers for housing, gender affirming surgeries, etc. This COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine really knocked us back in regards to fundraising how we had originally planned, but we’re still hopeful that everything is working out just how it’s supposed to, and we are all very blessed to have the support that we do throughout everything that has gone on in the past year with housing, health, and so much more.
Because the need is so urgent, we had planned on doing reward tiers to give out cute little ‘thank you’ gifts for different donation amounts. So far we’re thinking about releasing a DJ mix every time we raise $2000 towards our overall savings goal. It’s something fun for us to do, and it’ll be fun to provide y’all with some tunes from our very own DINA212 and more for the rest of this quarantine. We’re also considering doing another fun little weekly project involving music, history, and content produced by us, which we’ll have updates about soon.
Beyond what I’ve already mentioned, Ramses is also willing to share his skills by making photoshopped portraits/flyers, writing poems, doing distance reiki, or making some of his homemade (and very delicious) Sorrel. He can be found on instagram: @r.a.thegod, so feel free to message him with any questions or to set something up! As far as me, I’m down to edit pictures/videos (including captioning), help with scripts via script readings/editing, or even do voice overs for your project. The best way to reach me is via Instagram @diablocubano, so don’t be shy. Liberty, aka DINA212, is one of the coolest Black trans woman DJs, musicians, curators, and unsigned models you’ll ever meet, PLUS she’s still available to play a set for your event [remotely] during this quarantine or to even help curate your social media! You can message her via Instagram @qingliberty to inquire more. This quarantine has greatly limited our resources and supplies, so we’re still in the process of figuring out different things to do to be able to give back. We’ll definitely share updates once we figure something out, but we appreciate the love and support through it all! ^_^
Liberty
Ramses
Ariel
Luka
Lincoln
The places we’ve been looking at, on average, cost about $2500/month which was expected. We also have 3 cats between us, all of whom will be moving into this new space also. The biggest issues are (1) having enough money to secure housing, cover move-in costs and at least one solid month of rent, utilities, & groceries to help give us some footing while continuing to get through this pandemic. This is why we’re reaching out to community to assist us. Any money that is not needed after everything is taken care of will be donated back to the community through fundraisers for housing, gender affirming surgeries, etc. This COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine really knocked us back in regards to fundraising how we had originally planned, but we’re still hopeful that everything is working out just how it’s supposed to, and we are all very blessed to have the support that we do throughout everything that has gone on in the past year with housing, health, and so much more.
Because the need is so urgent, we had planned on doing reward tiers to give out cute little ‘thank you’ gifts for different donation amounts. So far we’re thinking about releasing a DJ mix every time we raise $2000 towards our overall savings goal. It’s something fun for us to do, and it’ll be fun to provide y’all with some tunes from our very own DINA212 and more for the rest of this quarantine. We’re also considering doing another fun little weekly project involving music, history, and content produced by us, which we’ll have updates about soon.
Beyond what I’ve already mentioned, Ramses is also willing to share his skills by making photoshopped portraits/flyers, writing poems, doing distance reiki, or making some of his homemade (and very delicious) Sorrel. He can be found on instagram: @r.a.thegod, so feel free to message him with any questions or to set something up! As far as me, I’m down to edit pictures/videos (including captioning), help with scripts via script readings/editing, or even do voice overs for your project. The best way to reach me is via Instagram @diablocubano, so don’t be shy. Liberty, aka DINA212, is one of the coolest Black trans woman DJs, musicians, curators, and unsigned models you’ll ever meet, PLUS she’s still available to play a set for your event [remotely] during this quarantine or to even help curate your social media! You can message her via Instagram @qingliberty to inquire more. This quarantine has greatly limited our resources and supplies, so we’re still in the process of figuring out different things to do to be able to give back. We’ll definitely share updates once we figure something out, but we appreciate the love and support through it all! ^_^
Liberty
Ramses
Ariel
Luka
Lincoln
Fundraising team: SERF (3)
Kai (Luka) Parker
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY
Liberty Vasquez
Team member
Ramses Aidara
Team member
