On this anniversary of 9/11, Americans find ourselves still embroiled in conflict in the Middle East. We are still meandering down a path to "recovery" from a recession induced by profiteers and speculation. Midwestern states compete to have lower corporate standards as a means of economic stimulus. Chicagoans witness our bottom-ranking education sinking further and being sold off to the highest bidder.
The future feels more perilous even as our present is more policed. Sometimes our city feels broken beyond repair, but we can't acquiesce to that feeling. Angela Davis recently framed Chicago's headline-grabbing violence as, "an inability to imagine future possibility." She highlighted how when youth can't imagine surviving into adulthood, they are driven in desperation to destructive behaviors. She reiterated how hopelessness has cast a shadow over the very people whose effort we need to create solutions in our communities.
We cannot fall prey to nihilism, perpetuating the notion that we live in a post-apocalyptic society or a war zone city. Chicago is everything it once was. This powerfully segregated city is plagued by all the ills of the modern age, but is also home to people who fight every day to improve conditions and solve some of the most pressing issues confronting society.
I'm proud to be a leader in Project Fierce Chicago (PFC), an organization building upon Chicago's incredible legacy of community organizing. PFC is a grassroots initiative to purchase a home on the South or West side and convert it into a home for LGBTQ youth. With only 200 designated beds for the city's estimated 15,000 homeless youth, we need every bed we can get. We also need examples for how communities can create change in a regressive time.
PFC is piloting an innovative model for housing—one that draws on community resources to meet a need regardless of whether those in power step up to help or not. Our vision is about providing a key resource to help transform real people's lives, but it's also about reimagining possibility and inviting people (younger and older) to bring that possibility into a reality.
PFC is funded, not by state and federal grants, but by people. Our major financial sustenance comes from a collective of regular people who donate monthly. Community-funding is about building community, not just fundraising. We each help shape the world through how we commit our resources.
PFC does not want to be another organization trapped in a system of competition with other under-funded agencies over diminishing resources. Money dedicated to homelessness has never been enough to meet the need. PFC is emerging in a scarcity-driven environment, where taking state grants necessarily means taking money from other populations. We need solutions that help us break out of the sum-zero non-profit politics, and help us work together to help more people get their needs met.
PFC is community-led. We are motivated by a sense of commonality, shared purpose and mutual aid. We want to build a community where people who have more access to connections and money leverage those resources to help create solutions with marginalized people. We are building a community that invests in one another's success and including LGBTQ homeless youth at every step of the way.
PFC plans to reclaim housing that already exists for people who need it. We live in a world where there are more bank-owned foreclosures than homeless people. LGBTQ homeless young people are often coming from the very neighborhoods whose streets are desolate due to bank repossessions. We plan to create a safe space where young people can stay in their own communities.
PFC is developing a model that can be replicated across the country. Thousands of LGBTQ youth are on the streets in major cities from coast to coast. If we find creative ways to forge community alliances, capitalize on federal legislation, or navigate financial systems, then we can share those strategies with other communities. What if we built a national network of youth and youth advocates creating opportunities like PFC?
PFC is a new spin on an old idea. PFC is standing on the shoulders of the Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries in New York in the 1970s. We're in the tradition of San Franciscans who organized hospice care for their dying friends before we even knew what to call AIDS. We're inspired by the Black Panthers who brought free lunch to school children and the Young Lords who brought tuberculosis screening to the barrios. We can continue to weave a tradition of healing, resistance and solidarity into the fabric of our communities.
PFC is one of many responses to our modern dilemma building strength in the city right now. Chicago is not Chiraq. Chicago is not Rahm Emmanuel. Chicago is the Immigrant Youth Justice League. Chicago is Project NIA. Chicago is Freekgeek. Chicago is La Casita. Chicago is Southsiders Together Organizing for Power. Chicago is us, so let's keep making this city a place of possibility.
André is the founder of the Trans Oral History Project, co-founder of Project Fierce Chicago, and a working board member of Orgullo en Accion. When André is not rabble-rousing, educating, or building community, you can hire him to photograph events and portraits by contacting him at andrealanperez@gmail.com .
