The Transforming Movements Fund’s Young Trans Women of Color (YTWOC) grantmaking program helps address the lack of resources supporting women of color leaders who are organizing on trans issues.
Learn more about the powerful, brilliant YTWOC grant recipients and the organizing they are doing with their communities:
Cathy Kapua, BPA, has worked with the transgender community since 2003, first starting off as a Peer Educator at Kulia Na Mamo, then eventually moving on to become the Transgender Service Manager at the Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center. Cathy is proud of her academic accomplishments in the University of Hawaii- West Oahu where she received a B.S. in Public Administration and continues to use these skills to help her Native Hawaiian community. She has been successful in advocating for transgender programming and providing culturally competency trainings throughout the nation but prides herself mainly on being a role model for younger transgender women in Hawai`i.
Mrs. Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd is an unapologetically Black, trans woman, and Southerner, and the Executive Director of Trans United, a national, trans, people of color-led organization, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Mrs. Duncan Boyd’s decision to step into a national role was born from her conviction that any serious struggle for liberation must center the leadership of—and be accountable to—those who have experienced the most dire and direct consequences of oppression and exploitation.
As Executive Director of Trans United, she plans to sharpen and deepen the organization’s work to develop the power and capacity of trans and non-binary leaders at the individual, organizational and community level, and to ensure that this work is seen, recognized and supported.
Before Trans United, Daroneshia served as the founder and Executive Director of Trans Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering (TAKE), an advocacy, support, and resource center for trans and non-binary communities in Birmingham, Alabama. As an out trans woman, born and raised in Alabama, she has experienced physical and sexual violence, workplace and housing discrimination, and the spiritual toll of exclusion from church and community. Her work at TAKE and Trans United reflects her commitment to transform the intent behind the hashtags of #NotOneMore and #SayHerName into a set of impactful strategies, programs and resources that honor the lives of those that have been taken too soon, and creates pathways for, by and with those that are still here.
Mrs. Duncan-Boyd’s leadership has been recognized and featured on HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas. She has been honored as an “Alabama Champion of Pride.” She has been featured in The Advocate magazine, and recognized as one of the “Top 7 Inspiring LGBTQ Leaders in Alabama.”
Monserrat Padilla has been organizing LGBTQ, immigrant, and communities of color on the ground for over 10 years to build collective movement power. Currently, she is the coordinator of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, a powerful statewide network of over 150 organizations who are building the defense line when immigration knocks at the door. She was a co-founder of the Washington Dream Coalition and has led national and statewide campaigns, including the victory on the Washington State Dream Act to expand eligibility for state aid in higher education.
Monserrat worked as the National Program Coordinator for the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project, a program of United We Dream, where she worked across the country building a national network of LGBTQ immigrant community leaders, advocates, and organizers to develop policies and advocate addressing the needs of LGBTQ immigrant communities.
Monserrat was born in Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico. At the age of 2 she migrated to the U.S. with her mother and two older siblings. She grew up in East Los Angeles, CA where she became part of the 11 million undocumented families living in the U.S. At the age of 15 she moved to Seattle, Washington, graduating from Chief Sealth International High School in 2010 and attending the University of Washington in Seattle.
Toi Washington has 10+ years of experience as a community organizer and trans leader, with a lifelong commitment to reducing prison incarceration rates in the South. Currently, she is the Program Director at TAKE Resource Center, where she works as a service provider for the trans community. Toi has also led workshops at the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, focusing on the social, political, and economic issues that impact trans women of color. She also was on the planning committee for the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference from 2013-2015 and served as a chair on the PRIDE School of Atlanta in 2015. Toi’s other accomplishments include Atlanta Ballroom Mother of the Year in 2015 and 2016 and a member of the Transgender Advisory Committee for the Atlanta Police Department.