Announcing our COVID2019 Relief fund for — DC based — impacted Trans Sex Workers.

For Press Inquiries: Please refer to our press kit.

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day worth celebrating even through the darkest of times and you can read our write up on TDoV from last year. This year on TDoV, NJNP in coalition with HIPS and others is announcing our COVID2019 Relief fund for impacted Trans Sex Workers in the DC area.

No Justice No Pride, HIPS and other #DecrimNow organizations are collaborating on a relief fund to DC Area and DMV based sex workers impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. As has been reported elsewhere — sex workers are facing unique challenges with the pandemic.

Two weeks after launching a Gofundme, NJNP, HIPS and others are announcing the launch rolling requests to the fund which will be managed by Nona Conner, an organizer with NJNP.

If you are a DMV based sex worker who has lost income due to #COVID2019 and need financial assistance you can submit a request via one of the following:

Submit a request to our request form
call our hotline number: 2026953897

Funds are limited to DMV based sex workers with priority given to those who are DC based. Funds currently will be dispersed within 72 hours, though longer times may be experienced based on availability. Funds will be disbursed based on circumstance and need. While we cannot guarantee all requests above $250, Requests can be made up to $600 within a period of 1–2 weeks. Higher amounts needed may require longer processing times.

We may need to contact you after you submit your request to verify where we are disbursing the funds to. If you don’t hear anything back after submitting, please wait at least 72 hours before contacting as we do anticipate a lot of requests and have limited capacity.

Background, our Press Kit and more on the relief fund below:

We have created this resource for those following our work and in addition our press kit for COVID2019 can be found here.

More from the GoFundMe created by NJNP & HIPS:

“Before we go in on how we are concerned for sex workers who may suffer from loss of clients as this crisis affects the economy, we are concerned about how the spread of COVID-19 may affect work environments for sex workers.”

“Transmission has most been documented by individuals who are traveling, sex workers often work out of motels and we are concerned about potential crossover. The isolation, including from financial networks & social networks with resources; many sex workers face in their typical lives will greatly increase their barriers to support in this time.”

“The people who typically fall through the cracks within the system are the ones, where the pandemic is further along; who are also being left behind. As our for profit healthcare system becomes too incapacitated when doctors are choosing who lives and who dies, those most on the margins — Black & Brown, Trans & Queer sex workers, homeless or housing unstable, chronically ill, those living with HIV, our trans elders — are not going to be the first individuals they prioritize. Lets be sure to have their backs!”

Check out the gofundme here: gf.me/u/xrm8tq

Background:

No Justice No Pride (NJNP) has been one of the few community groups providing dedicated support, mutual aid and care; to DC’s Transgender community. NJNP Collective housing, which was started by NJNP as a response to FOSTA/SESTA; provides long term and emergency housing to as many as 50 individuals a night. Coronavirus — or what is being called COVID-19 — can have devastating impacts on both the individuals who stay at our safe houses as well as people in our broader community. We are deeply concerned for the lack of care by our Federal Government with their response to this crisis. We are deeply concerned with the lack of disregard by our Mayor and her administration to individuals living in DC with HIV who may be affected.

Ways NJNP needs support right now:

• NJNP Collective needs support obtaining cleaning supplies, hygiene products and food — Our three safe houses are low cleaning supplies, we need donations of hand sanitizers, clorox wipes, surface cleaning sprays, swiffer wipes for mopping, rubber gloves, paper towels, etc. Additionally, some members of the collective are avoiding leaving the house due to their risk factors. We can use help supporting them by getting them groceries. Contact Bianca for more information.

Support for emergency funds/Microgrants —
We are asking community to help us raise funds for emergency microgrants to be given to Trans sex workers, not just as a form of relief for an industry that has no workplace safety net that is being affected by COVID-19 but additionally to help reduce the dependance on traveling to motels.
Contributions can be made by donating to our gofundme.

Volunteers for Patient Advocates at area hospitals —

Over the past three years NJNP has been frequently responding to area emergency rooms with trans community members seeking emergency care and have been abhorred by the treatment of these individuals from the registration process to the triage units. We know many Black and Brown Trans Women avoid hospitals, in particular emergency rooms; when seeking care from past traumas.

We have witnessed trans community members voluntarily discharge themselves before they are fully evaluated due to behaviors from hospital staffers, this includes the doctors and nurses who are directly assessing their care. As this crisis gets worse, we know the likelihood that type of treatment may additionally get worse; and we are concerned for the many in our community who may not seek care when they truly need it because of this. In our response, we are asking community members to volunteer to be patient advocates. While this may not be needed right away we are hoping to recruit people for the future as it gets worse. please email mutualaid@nojusticenopride.org, with the subject line ‘Supporting Patients’; and we will email you about next steps which may include a video call for some quick training.

Alternatives for sex workers

We are asking fellow sex workers and collective members to, instead of meeting with clients in person; consider working the long game of building a subscriber base thru services like patreon.com or onlyfans.com. We know from experience, this can take a bit to get off the ground which might not exactly be motivating for sex workers so we are looking for ways to support with this. Our Micro-grants are currently very limited but as mentioned above we are hoping to be able to raise funds to expand. Black and Brown Trans sexworkers in the DMV area can additionally email mutualaid@nojusticenopride.org with the subject line “COVID-19 DMV Emergency funds”.

No Justice No Pride (NJNP) has been one of the few community groups providing dedicated support, mutual aid and care; to DC’s Transgender community. NJNP Collective housing, which was started by NJNP as a response to FOSTA/SESTA; provides long term and emergency housing to as many as 50 individuals a night.

HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance. HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency.

DECRIMNOW DC was created by the Sex Worker Advocates Coalition (SWAC), a group of individuals and organizations promoting the human rights, civil rights and liberties, health, safety, and well-being of sex workers and people profiled as sex workers in Washington, DC while advocating for legislation and other policy changes to challenge the system of criminalization of sex work.