TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center

Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center is a grassroots non-profit founded with the intent to end civil rights violations against incarcerated Black and Black/Brown TGI folks in the San Francisco Bay Area and at the national level.

Our founding as a legal advocacy and support organization began in 2004 with the help of Alexander Lee, a Soros Justice Fellow. Since our founding, leadership and staff positions have been and continue to be composed of a majority of Black transgender people.

TGIJP's main programs for clients in the San Francisco Bay Area include the Re-Entry Program, Niomi Jenkins Community Care Freedom School, and the Housing Program.

Our mission is to challenge and end the human rights abuses committed against Black and Black/Brown Trans people inside of California prisons, jails, detention centers and beyond. TGIJP builds voice, power and leadership among transgender, gender variant and intersex people – inside and outside of prisons, jails and detention centers - creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom which centers Black Transgender, gender-variant, and intersex (TGI) people.

Our values

Fighting for the freedom and liberation of Black TGI lives with an abolitionist liberation framework. 

Centering lived experience of Black and Black/Brown Trans women impacted by criminal injustice institutions and systemic oppression.

Harm reduction framework for service plans.*

Trauma informed practice for engagement and collaboration.*

Dismantling the ladder of oppression by breaking the bottom rung.* 

Intersectional analysis of positionality in access to power and voice. 

Horizontal power structure in leadership and governance.

Transformative Justice framework for working on conflict.

*Defined by Directors and informed by community constituents