Help Kyra go to Peoples Action Organizer Training

My name is Kyra Schwartz (she/her), and I need your support to get me to the People’s Action Week-Long Leadership Development training in Minneapolis. You may know me as a friend, but over the last few years I’ve been developing my skills as a movement leader and community organizer, both within my neighborhood and broader trans community.

Although I have been an out and proud transgender woman for the last decade, the politics of the current moment leave me fearful for our community’s future. As the right continues their constant attacks on trans people, mainstream Democrats occasionally respond with limited, milquetoast pushback. Additional fights for bodily autonomy and reproductive justice for all are ongoing and have faced major setbacks in recent years. I strive to give a voice to my community and to ensure everyone has a right to bodily autonomy and access to the healthcare they need. I understand the urgent need to develop new leaders to find their own power and place in the movement. After the long 2020 presidential primary, I knew that the best way to create real change for my community was at the local level. I volunteered with State Representative Rick Krajewski’s winning primary campaign focused on addressing the immediate needs of a community impacted by the early COVID crisis. Since that victory, I’ve created and co-lead a local neighborhood group for Reclaim Philadelphia, trained and developed new leaders and organizers.This work led to wins at the local and state level for progressives. However, I still need to develop my organizing skills so I can better assist in the growth of our movement.

People’s Action is a national organization focused on training local leaders to effect change on the neighborhood, city, and state level. This training will reinforce the fundamentals of organizing while teaching more advanced methods for developing/growing/strengthening powerful community-led organizations. By attending this training, I will gain new organizing skills, improving my ability to serve my community. I would also like to take these learnings back with me to empower a cohort of trans leaders in Philadelphia to build their own power. Together, we will win the power to enshrine our rights to healthcare, housing, transit, education and a clean environment.

Going to this training in Minneapolis will require lodging, food & transportation costs, and to cover them I need to raise $1500. If you believe in my vision for investing and developing new trans community leaders, can you contribute some funds to help me cover those costs?