Hey, TransLash Family. It's me, Amara Jones. Welcome to the TransLash podcast, a show where we tell trans stories to save trans lives.

One of the things that's undeniable about the time in which we are living is that it's one of

severe economic crisis for many driven by inflation levels that we haven't seen in the United

States since the 1980s, which means that for many people listening to this podcast, it's an

inflation rate that they haven't seen at any point in their lives.

And this cost of living crisis got me to thinking about another time of economic crisis

recently in 2020 when the world stopped due to COVID-19.

And the way in which our community rallied around each other to support those facing the harsh

economic reality imposed by the pandemic.

Of course, mutual aid is not new to so many of the communities of which we are apart.

Of course, for African Americans, it's been true since the time of enslavement. And of course, for trans

communities, goes back to the icons that we all know, like Sylvia, Rivetta, and Marsha P. Johnson,

for whom mutual aid was just a part of the way in which they lived. So I wanted to revisit

mutual aid efforts in our community

to see how they were doing right now

and how they are continuing to move millions of dollars

to those most in need.

First, we'll speak to artists and founder of For the Girls,

Asani Armand, about their party-based mutual network

for the black trans community.

People who are trans know deep down who they are and what they are and what they need, right?

And a huge barrier to really self-actualizing is financial access. A huge barrier to self-actualizing is access to great

...