We’re already two months into the new year! Here’s what Prism has been up to so far in 2021:
- We welcomed history-making lawyer Christine Hernandez at Prism Investigates to talk about the work she did to bring marriage equality to Alabama.
- To give teens more accessible, discreet access to the Prism community, we created a Prism Discord Server. The server provides youth with chatroom-style channels where they can connect with each other throughout the week. The server is monitored by Prism facilitators. Currently, there are over 25 teens on the server.
- Over the last couple weeks, Prism teamed up with videographer Maxwell Kuzma to raise awareness about HB-1, a bill making its way through the Alabama Legislature that would devastate our trans youth. You can learn more about the trans hate bill below:
To help us fight this hateful legislation, you can share this video on Facebook by following this link and clicking the “Share” button. For instructions on how to take more direct political action, check out the PSA we released earlier this week.
LOOKING AHEAD
There’s a lot that Prism is excited about in 2021. We hope to relaunch in-person gatherings at the beginning of the next school year. We intend to put on the biggest LGBTQ+ prom that the Alabama Gulf Coast has ever seen. And we’re presently looking for a space to create a drop-in/community center with our friends at Rainbow Mobile.
We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time in spite of COVID-19 striking during our second year of operation. Imagine what we’ll be able to accomplish when the pandemic is behind us!
FROM THE YOUTH
“I’m starting to have hope and feel happy again. I might have only been part of Prism for just over a week but it’s already helped and changed me. I wouldn’t be where I am right now without Prism.” – F, Prism Discord Server
full names withheld to protect the confidentiality of participants.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Huge gratitude to Maxwell Kuzma for all the time he spent shooting, directing, and producing the PSA video about HB-1 for us. To learn more about Max, check out his blog.
Shoutouts to Margaret Jordan, Dan Van Nostrand, and Diane Davis for becoming our latest sustaining members and to Dr. Jamie Franco-Zamudio for creating a birthday fundraiser for Prism on Facebook (happy b-day, Dr. J!).
We hope you’ll consider helping us fund our programs and operations by becoming our next sustaining donor. Just click the “Make this donation every month” box when you donate on our website. Even a small monthly donation helps us move closer to financial viability.
We’ve got work to do. Thanks for making that work possible.
With love,
The Prism Team