2021 Year In Review

We are so incredibly grateful to all of you who helped improve the lives of trans and nonbinary survivors this past year – and throughout the past 27 years.

Your support – through caring about your trans friends/family members/clients, showing up, sharing resources, writing letters to legislators, working to create a more equitable and loving world, and through your financial donations. Every bit of it makes a HUGE difference.

Here is a brief snapshot of the results of your support and the impact on trans and nonbinary lives. The infographic says it all!

Want to learn more about each of these numbers?

Community Engagement

Being in the community has been hard this past year. So many of us are yearning for human connection, as well as the support we gain from being in the same space. Our team at FORGE has missed many of the forms of engagement that are so meaningful to us – tabling at conferences, being at PrideFest, holding space, and engaging in education within our community. Yet throughout the pandemic, we have found ways of connecting with you – 8048 of you! We are grateful you have also shown up and been part of this dance.

We’ve reached you! Can you help us reach more people who would benefit from FORGE’s services?

Providers trained

Training in 2021 has been quite different than prior years. All 60 trainings we conducted were virtual. Although not the same as in-person training, we appreciate providers’ eagerness to adapt to Zoom and other platforms to interact, engage, and learn new trans-affirming skills. Thank you to the 6191 providers who attended trainings (and the numerous others who have accessed online recordings, and attended panel discussions). We know that together, our expanded knowledge expands respectful and competent care for trans/nonbinary survivors.

The providers who need the most support in becoming trans-aware are often in organizations with the least funding to provide staff training. Let’s work together to help train those who may not otherwise have access. Your donation can be earmarked for training professionals to be more culturally responsive to trans/nonbinary individuals.

Survivors served

Direct service with trans and nonbinary survivors makes up only ~25% of our work. We are grateful to have been able to work with 849 trans and nonbinary survivors in 2021. (The bulk of our work – ~75% — is working with service providers.) Direct service to survivors is wide-ranging, including safety planning, emergency crisis support, connection to resources, support groups, 1:1 advocacy, and much more. Together we can support more trans/nonbinary survivors.

Crisis calls

FORGE regularly receives crisis calls from trans/nonbinary survivors and loved ones, even though we don’t have a hotline or warm line. We care deeply about the safety and wellness of our community, responding quickly in providing safety planning, emergency resources, and increasing the stability of those who reach out.

Did you know that most crisis calls = a need for financial support for the survivor requesting help? Every dollar counts in helping them reach a place of temporary safety. An average crisis caller needs between $500 and $1000 to ensure short-term safety. Are you able to help one survivor?

Videos

Some are short. Some are longer. Some are on our YouTube channel, and some were created for other organizations. Want to learn more about FORGE, our staff, our core values? Check out this YouTube playlist.

We are committed to accessibility. Are you, too? We aim to include ASL and professional captions in all of our videos. Will you help ensure that we can continue including ASL+ in all videos?

Collaborations

We are so grateful for the amazing partnerships and collaborations we’ve begun or continued in 2021. Organizations like the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN), End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI), SPARC (Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center), Just Detention International (JDI), the Pennsylviania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR), the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVSA), Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence (KCASDV), Violence Free Colorado, Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault & Family Violence, The State University of New York (SUNY), SAGE, Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders, Jewish Women International (JWI), Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, University of Connecticut (UCONN), MenHealing, and so many more have made us stronger and better. These relationships have dramatically improved the lives of trans and nonbinary survivors by increasing provider knowledge and skills.

At this end of the year, we encourage you to support organizations you care about.

Trainings

We love connecting with providers through crafting custom trainings to meet their needs. Once again this year, we were excited to train victim service providers, advocates, health care professionals, justice system folks, educators, and many more. We engaged providers across the country and beyond – in Canada, Guam, Pennsylvania, California, Washington, Connecticut, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, West Virginia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and more! Thank you for showing up for trans/nonbinary survivors.

Have you been part of any training? Take a peek at one example of an archived training: Trans/Non-binary Individuals and Intimate Partner Violence: A brief overview.

All of our trainings are free for providers (and trans consumers). We are limited in the scope of trainings funded by grants. Will you partner with us to ensure that other critical topics are covered in trainings, so that trans/nonbinary survivors are best served and supported?

Blog posts

We posted a record number of 45 blog posts in 2021! There were book reviews, interviews with trauma survivors about their lives amidst COVID, and multiple explorations of healing and coping techniques. We also explored harm reduction, shame and stigma, neurodiversity, communication styles, and how movement and mindfulness can make a difference. We even talked about the healing potential of riotous hair colors!

We are actively reaching out to expand our blog writers. We strongly believe in compensating trans/nonbinary writers. Will you consider a donation of $250-500 to pay for one post?

Skills and support groups

Both provider trainings and skills/support groups for trans/nonbinary individuals have all been online in 2021. In our 33 skills and support groups, we have continued to support parents of trans/nonbinary/gender-expansive kids, provide didactic information about topics the community has expressed interest in, brought in guest presenters, and created supportive spaces for community members to connect with each other and reduce isolation.

It takes a village to support those who have been harmed by trauma. Can we count on you to be part of that village?

Media interviews

Trans issues were in the news throughout 2021. We battled multiple legislative attempts to restrict trans youths’ access to bathrooms, school sports teams, and trans-affirming healthcare. There was also a lot of coverage of homicides related to anti-trans bias and intimate partner violence. The media has also covered our successes and resilience. We are grateful to media who consciously prioritize trans and nonbinary issues on their airtime. Here is just one brief example FORGE had the privilege of contributing to on Wisconsin Public Radio, focusing on the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

We know you would like to see more trans-representation in the media. You can help make that happen. A donation of any size supports bringing trans awareness into the mainstream press/media

Tabling outreach

One way we enjoy connecting with you is through tabling at conferences and other events. We love seeing your faces, having conversations, and sharing information. Tabling took on new forms this year. For the first time, we tabled virtually! What a concept! We were glad to be part of the virtual Philly Trans Wellness Conference (as presenters and tablers). Several Milwaukee-based events also brought us out into face-to-face venues: events with Safe and Sound, Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin vaccination clinic for LGBTQ+ folks, and the 2^nd annual March with PRIDE for #Blacklivesmatter. Connecting with our sibling MKE organizations like Black Rose Initiative and SHEBA continued to strengthen those relationships, too.