CONGRATULATIONS TO QDEP’S 3RD LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (LDP) COHORT!

For Further Inquiries or interview requests, please contact:
Uchechukwu Onwa – uchechukwu@qdep.org
Van Xelo – van@qdep.org
Written by: Dzana- dzana.ashworth@gmail.com and Joaris- joaris291092@gmail.com

This spring, the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) graduated the third cohort of Leadership Development Program Fellows! The Leadership Development Program (LDP) is designed exclusively for transgender women, cis-gender queer women, and gender non-conforming immigrants, led by QDEP’s Co-Director Uchechukwu (Uche) Onwa with the support of fellow trans, queer, and non-binary abolitionist facilitators. Dzana Ashworth (filmmaker and LDP First Cohort Fellow), and Aneiry Zapata (Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project Community Organizer and LDP First Cohort Fellow), Tania Mattos (Envision Freedom Funds Director of Advocacy & Policy) among others, joined Uche to talk about how to combat injustices from gender inequality to gentrification and many in between.

While reviewing broad topics such as capitalism, transphobia and homophobia,the prison industrial complex (PIC), racism in the United States, and organizing 101 the LDP offers lessons in grassroots fundraising, campaign building, action planning and many other topics. Through LDP, QDEP hopes to empower and encourage Fellows to become strong organizers within the immigrant rights and ICE/detention abolition movement as well as connected movements (Black liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, disability justice, Indigenous sovereignty etc). It is QDEP’s goal to teach and practice solidarity across communities, starting with our membership.

“Before, I was scared of putting myself out there, but I feel I’ve gotten more comfortable with being a leader,” says Tamara Minott, an LDP third cohort Fellow [and QDEP member], who signed up in order to help represent Black, queer, migrant communities. “I plan to use my leadership to educate asylum seeker[s] as myself to cope with the change and the feeling of being lost and not cared for.”

“El programa de liderazgo me interesó porque como persona inmigrante y que estado en detención he sido víctima de la violación de mis derechos. Por lo tanto, este programa me ayuda a poder aprender más y poder defender a mi comunidad,” (I got interested in the Leadership Program because as I’m an immigrant who has been in immigration detention, I’ve been a victim of rights violation. For instance, this program helps me to learn more and defend my own community) shared Joaris Hernandez, an LDP third cohort Fellow and QDEP member. She is now an active leader within QDEP’s Political Education Committee, planning workshops to further educate QDEP members and allies.

QDEP strives to be a safe, brave and community-led space for LGBTQ+ migrants to heal, grow and organize together. As Pride Month flames on, QDEP is excited to announce we will be opening applications for the Fourth Cohort session later this summer! “Uno de mis temas favoritos es la abolición [y] la identidad de género, ya que son temas que en la actualidad está afectando mucho a la comunidad inmigrante,” (One of my favorite topics is the abolition and gender identity, as these topics are presently affecting the immigrant community a lot) Hernandez continues. “Uno de mis líderes inspiradores es Silvia Rivera. Cómo organización y miembro de QDEP el programa de liderazgo ayuda a fortalecer nuestros conocimientos para poder ser unos líderes en la actualidad. Es por eso que yo invito a mi comunidad a formar parte de este gran programa para seguir fortaleciendo los conocimientos y podernos defender ante la sociedad.” (One of my inspiring leaders is Silvia Rivera. As an organization and a QDEP member the Leadership Program helps to strengthen our knowledge to become leaders. This is why I invite my community to be part of this great program to continue strengthening our knowledge and be able to defend ourselves in the society).

CONGRATULATIONS to the LDP Third Cohort Fellows! And we look forward to the Fourth Cohort with excitement, hope and pride!!!!

The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and emotional support and services. We work to organize around the structural barriers and state violence that LGBTQIA TS & GNC detainee/undocumented folks face related to their immigration status, race, sexuality, and gender expression/ identity. We are committed to assisting folks in building lives outside of detention, to breaking down the barriers that prevent folks from building fulfilling and productive lives, and to keeping queer families intact by demanding an end to deportations/ detention/ policing. We believe in creating a narrative of thriving, not just surviving. QDEP is a proud member of the Detention Watch Network, Freedom For Immigrants, New York Immigration Coalition, as well as the AbolishICE NYNJ Coalition. QDEP is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA). CTA, an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is legally and financially responsible for all our project activities.