Community Cares

After the May 7, 2010, murder of Milwaukee transgender woman Chanel Larkin, FORGE initiated a months-long set of activities designed to support, empower, and educate the community.  Six community meetings were held to provide community members with a safe place to express emotions and to plan actions such as a presentation by the district attorney’s office on the prosecution process; a candlelight vigil; a march and rally at the Courthouse; and ensuring there were court watchers at all court appearances of the accused.  We also: assisted people in filing victim impact statements with the court; published editorials and articles in the Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Gazette, Quest, and other publications; arranged for coverage by television news stations 6 and 58; distributed 4 news releases and 8o media kits; did trainings for and met with the Milwaukee Homicide Review Team and the Domestic Violence Review Team; and got appointed and met with a Milwaukee Police Department LGBT Police Liaison.  Although no further Community Cares meetings or events are planned (except for the employment project described below), FORGE feels this community healing and empowerment work is very important, and we expect we may lead similar efforts when they become necessary.

Transgender Employment Project

In the wake of transwoman Chanel Larkin’s murder, several African-American transgender women approached FORGE and asked for our help in finding them regular employment so they could quit working the streets.  FORGE has joined with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center and Manpower, Inc. to develop a pilot project designed to work with transgender people with multiple barriers to employment.   It is our hope that we can not only help these and other Milwaukee transgender people find employment, but that we can develop a program that can be replicated in other cities across the country.

Social Support Meetings

For more than a decade and a half, FORGE has been sponsoring peer support and information meetings for Milwaukee-area transgender people and SOFFAs.  We regularly meet on the first Saturday of the month at the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, 252 E. Highland Avenue, Milwaukee.  Each meeting has a topic; to learn what we’ll be discussing at our next meeting, see our calendar of events.  FORGE meetings always welcome everyone.

Milwaukee Police Department Homicide Review Team

In the wake of the 2010 murders of Chanel Larkin and Rosalyn Ross, FORGE was recruited to be part of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Homicide Review Team.  This police/community organizations body reviews homicides to determine what changes would make it less likely that kind of death under review would happen again.  FORGE spearheaded the appointment of an LGBT Liaison by the Milwaukee Police Department as one outcome of the Homicide Review Team’s work on Chanel Larkin, and will be spearheading a “Stakeholders’ Meeting” of domestic violence and related professionals to discuss the need for services particularly directed toward African-American LGBT people as a result of Rosalyn Ross’s death.

PrideFest Health and Wellness Committee

FORGE is a very proud co-sponsor of the Health and Wellness Section at Milwaukee’s PrideFest (June 10-12, 2011).  This growing effort offers free booth space and publicity to LGBT organizations that agree to sponsor interactive activities designed to increase participants’ awareness of healthy behaviors.  It’s a creative, fun way to let our LGBT community know that it matters to us that they be healthy enough to stick around for a long while to come.  The Health and Wellness Committee meets monthly (roughly) from January through June.

Diverse & Resilient’s LGBT Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Advisory Committee

FORGE Executive Director michael munson serves on the advisory committee of a federally-funded project sponsored by Diverse & Resilient to increase recognition of the high incidence of IPV with LGBT communities and increase the capacity of LGBT and mainstream partners to address IPV as a critical health issues within LGBT populations.  The project will develop a website with mental health resources available to LGBT individuals and couples; increase the capacity of LGBT organizations, groups and individual leaders to respond to IPV within LGBT communities; and work with mainstream IPV providers to increase their ability to provide culturally-competent IPV services to LGBT people.