It is widely known that the Los Angeles City Government has never allocated resources to TGI-led organizations to provide life-saving services to the local Trans, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex (TGI) community. Peer models are proven to work, which is why The TransLatin@ Coalition is asking Mayor Karen Bass for our organization to be included in this upcoming budget cycle. TGI people are disproportionately affected by employment discrimination, hate violence, and health disparities to name a few. This is why we need community-based services and solutions that are led by other TGI people and The TransLatin@ Coalition is the only TGI-led organization that has built a multitude of services that are specifically designed to address the needs and issues of TGI people in Los Angeles.
In 2022 the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Homeless Count reported that there were at least 2,350 homeless TGI community members on our streets both sheltered and unsheltered. More needs to be done for TGI people to be at a better place in our beloved city. We know there are many more community members in our city that can benefit from being empowered from the multitude of services that The TransLatin@ Coalition provides. The TransLatin@ Coalition is calling on our Mayor Karen Bass to create a TGI Wellness Fund and allocate $20 million for the next five years. The TGI Wellness Fund will allocate funding towards building a resource center that aims to provide immediate housing, behavioral and health services, employment opportunities, substance abuse prevention, legal services, and more. Our community is under attack and our government from the City of Los Angeles must invest in bettering the lives of TGI Angelenos and include us in this year's budget.
Now is the time to act! We are asking you to join us in signing this petition and invite others to support our efforts. We need to let the City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass know that she needs to include our organization in the upcoming budget. Our goal through this petition is for our Mayor to allocate at least four million dollars in this year's budget and four million the subsequent years for a total of 20 million dollars. It is time that the existence and the lives of TGI people in Los Angeles are valued and acknowledged and our city needs to invest in TGI lives so that we can thrive rather than survive, because #WeAreTGILA