As a transgender founded and led non-profit, isn’t it TransPonder’s duty to create an intersectional organization? 

Yes, it is absolutely our duty to be intersectional. We call this commitment out in our mission/vision statement: 

“TransPonder’s vision and commitment is to: address root causes of discrimination in the trans/gender diverse community; deconstruct intersectional discrimination of all underrepresented/oppressed groups within and outside of our organization; increase allyship and accomplices through relationship building and education; foster leadership within the trans/gender diverse community across generations; promote access to health by fostering expertise in mental, physical, and spiritual healing communities; and network with legal counsel knowledgeable about the trans/gender diverse community.”

Why isn’t TransPonder sharing more about the protests that are occurring? 

We share as much as we can, but we can admittedly always do better. 

Please check our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds. If you have news or information to share with us, please direct message us, email info@transponder.community, or tag us in your posts!

Why aren’t there more BIPOC folx on the TransPonder board?

Thank you for this question. Over the years, we’ve asked many TBIPOC folx to step into leadership, but we understand that being a part of a board is an intense commitment, which involves committing a significant amount of engagement and volunteer time. That being said, we keep this as an active discussion in our meetings, and are always looking for enthusiastic and committed people to serve on our board.

If you are interested in becoming a board member the first step is to let us know you’re interested. You can let us know by sending an email to TBIPOC@transponder.community to start the conversation.

Why aren’t there more TBIPOC folx in leadership?

Leadership can take many forms and we invite TBIPOC folx to come and engage with us in whatever ways they feel drawn to. Some of the ways folx can do that is by being a volunteer; being a member of our TBIPOC Advisory Board; facilitating a group, workshop, or event (whether it be BIPOC focused or not); consulting with us; sitting on our organizational board; or offering some other kind of service to TransPonder and our community. We have TBIPOC folx engaged at all of these levels and are always excited to have more folx come and get involved.

If you are interested in getting more information about any of this please email TBIPOC@transponder.community to start the conversation and let us know how you’re interested in getting more involved.

NOTE:  Organizational and Advisory Board membership is volunteer work however any facilitation or consultancy work is compensated. 

Why isn’t TransPonder posting more informative links on the racist history of Oregon?

We’re so glad you asked this! At the end of July 2020, we’re presenting an Oregon Racist History Awareness Campaign, which was written for us by V Varun Chaudhry, PhD, and put together by our social media coordinator.

To see the full social media campaign, Click HERE.

To read about Oregon’s history go here: Oregon’s Racial History Brief

Is TransPonder reaching out to BIPOC communities? Do they have any plans to collaborate with other BIPOC organizations? 

Yes, we have been working on building partnerships with multiple BIPOC groups and organizations around town. We had Black Unity, EugBlac, BIPOC Art Collective, BIPOC Liberation Collective speaking or directly involved in our protest and march in June 2020. We had a discussion on safety and Black identities with the NAACP on TDOR, November 20, 2021. And we are also working on developing deeper relationships with Centro Latino Americano and other BIPOC groups/collectives in the area. 

Our vision is to attend more local BIPOC meetings/events, and invite them to ours, so that we can help build bridges of support and understanding for each other’s communities. We know we are all in this together. 

We’re always looking for more contacts or groups we should be reaching out to–please contact us at info@transponder.community if you know of more we should be working with. 

Why isn’t TransPonder sending more shout-outs to local black owned businesses on their social media or website?

We could do better here. In the long term we intend to set up a business directory on our website, but haven’t yet, due to capacity reasons. If you know of trans-friendly BIPOC-owned businesses please email us at info@transponder.community to let us know. We will amplify those businesses in our social media and add them to our eventual business directory.

What is TransPonder doing to foster deeper relationships with diverse communities?

Great question. First, we would like to acknowledge what we’ve done:

• • Offered workshops on racial justice facilitated by black leadership and transgender folx in tandem; sponsoring TransPonder’s leadership and community to attend. 
  • Created a TBIPOC specific feedback email where TBIPOC folx can be certain they will be in contact with another TBIPOC person (TBIPOC@transponder.community).
  • Started a TBIPOC affinity support group.
  • Organized a peaceful protest/march (in June 2020) to raise awareness for the erasure of transgender and LGBTQIA+ rights centering BIPOC voices and standing in solidarity with the BLM movement. 
  • Hired a racial justice and non-profit consultant (V Varun Chaudhry) to assess TransPonder from the ground up including our website, programming, outreach, training, community feedback and concerns. He made recommendations to the board that TransPonder is currently implementing and continues to consult.
  • Created a TBIPOC Advisory Board. This board is represented at the decision making table and helps guide TransPonder. The TBIPOC Advisory Board are the folx who led and organized our first annual fundraising gala in 2019 — which was a huge success — and centered TBIPOC stories, leadership, and artists/entertainers.  

What we envision going forward:

• • Continue to build out our TBIPOC Advisory Board. If you would like to join or contact the advisory board directly, please email: TBIPOC@transponder.community.
  • Continue to build our relationships with TBIPOC organizations and groups as mentioned above in an effort to build intersectional understanding of how our groups can be more supportive of and stand in solidarity with one another. 
  • With the addition of our TBIPOC Affinity Group meetings, we hope BIPOC members in our community will help us shape TransPonder’s future and what we could be doing to better support the BIPOC communities here. 
  • Continue collecting feedback from the community around what they want and what we could be doing better to make TransPonder more safe and inclusive for all BIPOC identities. We know we are not perfect and are committed to learning and growing. Feedback can be sent to TBIPOC@transponder.community.

 

Thank you, everyone, for your questions and engagement and helping us make TransPonder a better community! Please keep the questions coming! Questions can be emailed to admin@transponder.community.

The TransPonder Team