Q Center’s Marsha P. Johnson Community Fund Provides Emergency Microgrants

The MPJ Fund is a model of radical care and mutual aid for Portland’s QTBIPOC Community

Marsha P. Johnson was a radiant, fearless Black trans activist whose courage, compassion, and fierce joy helped shape the modern LGBTQIA2S+ liberation movement. Marsha showed the world what it means to live your values boldly: to choose love over fear, mutual aid over abandonment, and to insist that those pushed furthest to the margins are worthy of safety, dignity, and celebration. 

Q Center’s Marsha P. Johnson Community Fund (MPJ Fund) provides emergency microgrants to individuals who are BIPOC and queer, transgender or two-spirit, honoring the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson, whose life, courage, and compassion continue to light the way for queer and trans liberation. 

The MPJ Fund Addresses a Growing Need in the Portland-Area

Beginning in 2025, as the federal government began threatening the health and wellbeing of the LGBTQIA2S+ community while simultaneously slashing safety net programs for all vulnerable populations, the need for this kind of low-barrier emergency support to cover everyday expenses has steadily increased. 

“I’m an autistic person who's been coming out of severe burnout and skill regression for a time and moving away from child care as my main source of income.” Sielo Kai is an MPJ Fund grant recipient and the facilitator of Q Center’s BIPOC Support Space. “Because I don't work sufficient hours, my SNAP benefits were reduced in November. That just kind of left me scrambling financially.” Sielo has received two MPJ Fund grants, and in both cases used the funds to access food and medical care. 

In fact, all of the microgrants awarded by Q Center this year have supported basic needs including food, housing, medical care, and transportation. 

To help support this important fund, click HERE!

An Act of Trust Between Q Center and Our Community

The MPJ Fund application only asks what the grant will be used for so that Q Center can better understand the needs of the community and impact of the program. Rooted in Marsha P. Johnson’s spirit of radical care, mutual aid, and collective resistance, the fund exists to uplift Black, Brown, and Indigenous trans community members whose needs have too often been overlooked, underserved, or ignored. 

“The lack of restriction around how this fund must be used is an act of trust between Q Center and the recipient. The experience of receiving it twice did build trust in me that this is a place that sees me in my identities as a person who is worthy of just living,” Sielo explains.

“I asked [Q Center Executive Director Joelle Kim] if I had to do anything for it and she said, ‘No. You get to be who you are and this can be exactly what it's supposed to be, which is support for BIPOC two-spirit-identifying people in need of support.’ 

“The marginalization QTBIPOC people experience puts them near an emergency at all times. So I feel like this is the Q Center saying, ‘This fund is for you, who are in near emergency at all times. Please survive as you will.’”

To help support this important fund, click HERE!

Q Center Donors Show Support for a Targeted Community

So far this year, Q Center has awarded $20,000 in microgrants.

“I’m very blessed and honored that I was able to receive a grant from the Marsha P. Johnson Fund. Without this support, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Thank you to the Q Center for helping the community.”

Daniella (she/her), MPJ grant recipient

The goal of this donor-funded program is to provide a microgrant to every applicant who identifies as BIPOC and queer, transgender, or two-spirit, but donations have not kept up with the needs of a community under attack. 

“Donating to the MPJ Fund is a simple way for individual people to contribute directly to the safety, health, and wellbeing of a community being targeted on multiple fronts by the Trump Administration” explains Q Center Executive Director Joelle Kim. 

“Q Center is only able to sustain a program like the MPJ Fund with support from donors who want to do more for LGBTQIA2S+ people in Portland than just hang a flag or come to a Pride parade.” 

To meet the growing needs they’re seeing in the community, Q Center hopes to raise an additional $20,000 for the Marsha P. Johnson fund.. 

To help support this important fund, click HERE!

At its heart, the Marsha P. Johnson Community Fund is more than financial assistance. It is an expression of community showing up for community and a reminder that care is a form of justice, and that everyone deserves safety, dignity, and the resources to survive and thrive.

This article was produced by Melissa Duclos through Amplify Impact, a Q Center Standing on Business Partner.