hana's 2018 fundraiser!

Please join me in celebrating my 32nd(!) birthday by donating to my annual fundraiser for Third Wave Fund, a community fund that supports grassroots gender justice activism across the U.S. to advance the political power, well-being, and self-determination of low-income, trans and gender nonconforming, and people of color communities.

Your donation here will support Third Wave’s Mobilize Power Fund, which provides rapid response grants for direct organizing actions and community mobilization around gender justice issues. While the effort to end gender, racial, and economic oppression is long-term, there are critical moments that call for quick action. The Mobilize Power Fund was set up to support grassroots groups who are often the first to respond to issues of state-violence, reproductive oppression, and attacks on women of color, queer, and trans communities--and the last to receive foundation funding.

Grassroots donations to this fund are essential as they allow Third Wave to respond quickly to urgent needs in the community. Here are some examples of efforts that the Mobilize Power Fund has supported over the past year:

Kapuna Council in Hanalei, HI led an intergenerational, rapid response post-flood rebuilding effort that uplifted indigenous women’s leadership, community-identified needs, and visions for rebuilding while resisting unrestricted tourism. Kapuna Council is an intergenerational coalition led by and for native Hawaiian families directly impacted by settler colonialism, tourism, and environmental injustice.
Waves Ahead in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico received funds to rebuild the homes of 6 elders in the LGBTQ community in Puerto Rico. In the wake of unprecedented damage, divestment, and neglect, LGBTQ Puerto Ricans are among those devastated, but rarely covered in the news. Waves Ahead aims to provide critical services to rebuild lives, homes and businesses for the Puerto Rican LGBTQ community in response. Working at the intersection of gender, racial, and reproductive justice, Waves Ahead is building community power in resistance to the historical divestment and colonialism that has made communities in Puerto Rico vulnerable to environmental disasters.
Beautiful Black Queens 4 Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment in Philadelphia, PA organized a community event during Black Breastfeeding Week in August for mamas of all ages, with a particular focus on young parents, to address the current U.S. public health crisis surrounding perinatal health outcomes for Black mothers and their babies. Integrating a reproductive health and food justice framework, they aimed to raise awareness and empower black families to make informed decisions around health and wellness related to breastfeeding.
Birthmark Doula Collective (BDC) in New Orleans, LA hired Spanish-speaking staff, educated organizational partners working with Spanish-speaking families around birth justice and BDC’s services, and provided training for native Spanish-speaking doulas. This strengthened their capacity to serve Black and brown immigrant, Spanish-speaking families dealing with increased ICE presence and deportations that have impacted undocumented and mixed-status family support during labor.
Asian American Resource Workshop in Boston, MA led a language- and culturally-specific voter education initiative for monolingual South and Southeast Asian communities around a ballot measure that would repeal protections for trans people in Massachusetts.