A Letter To Our Community From Our New Executive Director, kai alviar horton
July 2024
Dear Trans Lifeline Community,
My name is kai alviar horton (he/they). I write you this letter with billowing awe and gratitude to join you all as the new Executive Director at Trans Lifeline. I am committed to holding this honor with dignity and respect for all the lineages of people who are represented in this work—past, present, and future.
Our work is centered on affirming the aliveness of the trans community. This work would not be possible without the incredible dedication and labor of our hotline team and our support teams across the organization that make this space come alive every single day. I am committed to building organizational health and readiness to continue to invest deeply in the aliveness of our team so that we can continue to go deeper into our work.
Within my first year, it is my priority to:
- Enhance financial stability and sustainability by supporting our fundraising efforts and strategies.
- Support the building and retention of an engaged and resourced Board of Directors.
- Invest deeply in healing and repairing organizational culture.
- Uplift and mentor existing leaders from every part of the organization to build a world where trans (specifically TBIPOC) are represented at every level of leadership at Trans Lifeline.
- Build lasting relationships with staff and a deep connection to our work.
- Engage deeply with our external stakeholders to stay grounded and connected to what our community deserves and needs during these tumultuous times.
These are just some of the many goals and commitments I make to the TL community as we embark on this new chapter together.
If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that trans people deserve to live, to be loved, and to be cherished. I want to help build a world where trans people can grow old, where trans kids can be held in love, and where we can experience the fruits of the endless labor of our intersecting liberation movements, in this lifetime, for the sake of all of us.
I would not be here today without the revolutionary love of all the Black and brown trans people who have come before me, who are with us now, and who will be with us in the future. I would not be here without the people in my life who embodied an unwavering hope and belief that another world is possible. I am grateful, I am honored, and I am ready for this next chapter here at our organization.
As I bring this letter to a close, I want to explicitly state that I stand for a free Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Haiti, and the freedom of all oppressed people. I stand with sex workers. I stand for trans liberation, Black and brown liberation, and the liberation of all people who are the survivors of colonial violence. I believe in a world that can flourish without prisons and police. And I believe in a world that is access intimate, that is conscious of how our intersecting fights for liberation are interconnected and interdependent, and where trans people get to live long and beautiful lives.
I am excited to get started and honored for you to join us for this next part of our journey as an organization.
With big love,
kai alviar horton
