Get Krys and Jayda back on their feet! Housing support!!

Dear Friends,

We are writing to ask for community support for a Krys and Jayda, two members of our community who are fighting to survive inter-generational cycles of abuse by the prison industrial complex. Some of you may know Krys personally or may have read their essay "Krystal is Kristopher and Vice Versa" detailing their experiences with racism and gender harassment in court and in prison in the new anthology: Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex.  Currently Krys receives $200 a month in GR funds and has been fighting for the past several months to finally get their ID card, but is still battling identity theft issues! Krys recently survived 12 years in a CDCR prison and is not well-positioned to support a household on their own, and Jayda is Krys's partner who was also inside since the age of 17, and now is out too. As some of us well know, there are not enough resources to support our loved ones who are returning home from prisons, jails, juvenile detention centers, youth camps, and the like. Basic resources that help foster social and economic stability are not provided by the California Department of Corrections or the LA County Probation Department for people returning home. For people who are dealing with family histories of proximity to the state's death dealing penal apparatuses, traditional support networks like family ties become less reliable structures for helping formerly incarcerated people survive the economic vulnerabilities that exist in Los Angeles. These vulnerabilities are acutely reflected in the county's high unemployment rate of 11.2% compared to the national rate of 7.8% as of September of 2012. Economic vulnerability is particularly pronounced in South LA where unemployment rates are as high 24% black and brown neighborhoods like Florence Graham and Westmont, where Krys is from.

We have been a part of an amazing support team for Krys and Jayda during the past few months, and will continue to reach out to ask our friends and loved ones to contribute whatever you can to directly support housing, food and utilities costs for the upcoming months. Please feel free to pass this information along to those who can support. No amount is too small. These next few months are crucial because Krys and Jayda must have steady housing in order to fulfill their parole requirements.  Also, since leaving the terrible medical facilities within the prison system, much chronic health issues are flaring up for them both, and so ideally wed like to find alternative means for more long term care/work for Krys and Jayda.  We have set up this getfunded site so that folks with more means might send some extra resources this way!!   We realize that not everyone has the resources to contribute and we are also looking for people to connect Krys and Jayda with employment opportunities, particularly positions that pay in cash.  

This vital experience of asking periodically for community support does not end exclusively with Krys and Jayda, as the group of us who have been involved have been researching ways to create a more sustainable resource re-entry space for formerly incarcerated queer/trans gender non-conforming folks of color in LA and Greater Los Angeles area.  

Thank you for your support.   TEAM K + J