A funded fellowship for Trans and Gender Non-Conforming survivors that are Black, Indigenous or other People of Color.

The QTPOC Advocates Institute provides paid training and flexible part-time employment opportunities to help survivors of sexual violence become advocates for other Queer and Trans survivors of color.  

QTBIPOC Survivor-Advocates Institute participants will receive: 

• Paid training hours
• Fellowship with other QTBIPOC survivor advocates
• Coaching and support for building your own consultancy
• Priority hiring for part-time Crisis Response Advocate position with OCRCC
• Access to Mini-grants to fund your community organizing efforts

What is the QTBIPOC Survivor Advocates Institute?

This project is a paid fellowship hosted by the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. The Orange County Rape Crisis Center’s mission is to stop sexual violence and its impact through support, education, and advocacy. We envision a just and equitable world free of sexual violence and all other forms of oppression. Our values include excellence, accessibility, social justice, community involvement, self-care, and empowerment.

Putting Survivors in Front  
Movements, and the organizations that serve them- ought to be led by the people closest to the issue. Over the last couple of decades, the availability of funding to support anti-sexual violence and survivor care work has been increasingly tied to professional qualifications that privilege degrees over lived experience. While most of us led to work in this field identify as survivors, the initiative seeks to make it more explicit and platform the critical perspectives of QTBIPOC survivors as leaders for the movement.   

Rape Crisis Center Without Walls 
There is no public health or social change model in the world to indicate that a single community-based organization- no matter how dedicated or skillful the staff- can end an endemic public health issue like sexual violence. Sexual violence happens in communities, and communities are units that will ultimately end it. By increasing the number of community members with high level crisis intervention and survivor support skills, this initiative significantly increases the overall capacity of communities to respond with empathy and care when survivors break silence about sexual trauma, and embeds skillful healers in family, social and community cohorts where survivors are most likely to come forward. This is particularly critical for communities that have been historically excluded from or harmed by mainstream institutions like rape crisis centers. The presence of advocates within their own settings increases the chances that survivors of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and other marginalized survivors will get the support they need and deserve- even if they’re not interested in or ready to reach out for professional services.

Meeting Diverse Needs   
Survivors with marginalized identities face tremendous anxiety and trepidation about the quality of support they’ll receive if and when they do reach out to their local rape crisis center. Most RCC’s are predominately white, women, middle class, cis-gender and straight led institutions, leaving survivors who do not fit those identities unsure about whether or not the advocates they do work with will be able to adequately support them as they navigate unfriendly institutions and choice points. Survey and anecdotal data from clients and partners demonstrate that queer, trans, Black and Latine survivors by and large prefer to work with advocates with similar identities to them and would in fact be more willing to seek further service and refer their friends and family if they know that is an option.   

Pathways to Employment   
QTBIPOC Survivor-Advocates who choose to extend their contracts with the OCRCC will provide culturally specific crisis support to queer and trans survivors of color via Helpline and hospital accompaniment. Survivor advocates will also be connected to an ongoing community of support via their cohort, which will be coordinated and hosted by the OCRCC.   

Another function of the cohort is to connect survivor advocates with paid speaking and consulting contracts to further their career development and ensure that survivors themselves are speaking for the movement.

How to Apply: Use the entry form below to fill out an application and let us know your interest.  We will reach out to you within a week to let you know what next steps will look like. 

Requirements:

1. You must identify as a Transgender person of Color
2. Passion to envision a world free of Sexual Assault and Oppression
3. Reliable Internet Access
4. 18 or older

The QTIPOC Advocacy Fellowship is a paid temporary fellowship consisting of two phases: 

1. Training Phase

During this phase, Survivor-Advocates will have access to the OCRCC’s virtual, self-paced advocates training. Each hour spent on training activities is reimbursed at the rate of $80/hr for up to 25 hours 

Training also includes 2  in-person cohort meetings led by LGBTQ Client Services Advocate Alexandria Webb.

2. Graduate Phase

After completing all relevant, paid training hours Survivor Advocate Institute Graduates can opt into one or more of the following tracks:

• Employment as a Client Response Advocate *background check, and interview process

CRA’s are the overnight and weekend backbone of the crisis response program at OCRCC.

CRA’s respond to Helpline calls and Hospital Accompaniment requests with compassion and care when survivors reach out.   

 Start your career in Victim’s Services as a CRA! Click HERE to learn more about the CRA role at OCRCC.

• Professional Dream Management Track

QTBIPOC Survivors are often already organizing and offering support within their communities. The Survivor-Advocates Institute will provide paid opportunities to deepen professional skills and apply for funding to support existing or emergent organizing activities that align with the OCRCC’s prevention and support mission

• Coaching on professional development skills such as marketing, financial management, networking, etc. will be provided through the cohort as well as for those who are interested in launching a career as self-employed consultants for a sector that desperately needs more QTBIPOC survivor voices at the table.
• Present a dream or project you would like to envision to reality
• Learn what a billable hour is
• Must complete project within 2 and a half months

This track is compensated as follows:

• $50/hour for up to 10 hours/month, 3 month duration
• A mini grant of $250 to purchase any supplies or services to actualize dream
• Possible co-sponsorship (including match funds) from OCRCC for mission-relevant activities

Are you ready to become a QTBIPOC Survivor Advocate? Click HERE for the Interest Form.