JeSuisNiiLee Mutual Aid Collective

After nearly two years of creating programming and supporting individuals and community brought together through Clubhouse, a virtual audio drop-in application, NiiLee, Founder of "Life of a Transwoman" creared the JeSuisNiiLee Mutual Aid Collective. As a collective, individuals from Life of a Transwoman and Black Lesbian Well Check (groups founded on Clubhouse) will come together to create programing focused on supporting Black and Brown LGBTQIA+ individuals in various aspects of their lives.

The major focus of the Collective will be the mutual aid fund - its primary mechanism to provide financial support to Black and Brown LGBTQIA+ folk who find themselves experiencing hardship with regard to essential needs including, but not limited to, food or housing insecurity as well as healthcare and safety needs. According to UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute "LGBT people collectively have a poverty rate of 21.6%, which is much higher than the rate for cisgender straight people of 15.7%." That number increases to 29% for transgender people and cisgender bisexual women specifically.

LGBT and cisgender straight people differ in ways that affect the likelihood of poverty. Several characteristics known to be related to poverty are more common among LGBT people. LGBT people, particularly bisexual and transgender people, are more likely to be people of color, young, and experiencing a disability. The JeSuisNiiLee Mutual Aid Collective's mission is to provide the resources to bridge those gaps and provide relief where we can.