#HireTrans Chicago Campaign Launches

CHICAGO—A new Chicago-based campaign, #HireTrans, is launching this week in advance of an LGBTQ job fair Sept. 29. Windy City Times, Chicago’s LGBTQ newspaper since 1985, created the #HireTrans campaign to push for more opportunities for transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals, who face high obstacles for consistent employment and advancement opportunities on the job. More than 60 TGNC folks gave of their time to be photographed at one of three public photo shoots with award-winning filmmaker André Pérez. The HireTransChicago.com website features photos from the campaign, as designed by Patrick Olson.  These images will be featured in a year-long Chicago-area campaign in traditional media, social media, online and in public spaces, to encourage employers to hire transgender, gender nonconforming, gender expansive and non-binary individuals, and to become more culturally competent in their work places. #HireTrans also aims to encourage TGNC individuals to reach out to resources to develop skills, receive additional education and connections to employment.Windy City Times, in partnership with Chicago House, Center on Halsted, Howard Brown Health, Heartland Alliance, Association of Latinos/as Motivating in Action, Equality Illinois and Pride Action Tank, created the #HireTrans Campaign for the Chicago area after seeing a similar campaign in San Francisco.This educational campaign launched in time for the WCT LGBTQ Job Fair on Friday, Sept. 29 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, Chicago. The Job Fair is free and open to the public. Right before the fair, at 10 a.m., is a special workshop on TGNC people in the workplace moderated by Vanessa Sheridan of Center on Halsted, with panelists Lathem Bonem, Trans Works Program Manager at Chicago House; LaSaia Wade, member of Chicago TGNC Collective and the Trans Liberation Collective, and director of Brave Space Alliance; and Denise Bowker, who has worked for Northern Trust for 30 years in the technology area. The team of TGNC people who worked with Tracy Baim, co-founder and publisher of Windy City Times, on the #HireTrans campaign: — André Pérez, founder of the Transgender Oral History Project and America in Transition; — LaSaia Wade, an Afro Puerto Rican indigenous trans woman, founder of TNTJ Project in Tennessee, and member of Chicago TGNC Collective and the Trans Liberation Collective, and director of Brave Space Alliance; — Patrick Olson, a Chicago-based artist and designer who believes in doing great work for good people; — Chris Walker, a freelance social media marketer and event producer working in the nonprofit sector;— Alloíza Mari, an Afro Latinx trans femme living in Chicago;— Jes Scheinpflug, an advocate for social and economic justice issues including racial equity, LGBTQIA rights, fair & affordable housing, living wage and immigration reform;— Vanessa Sheridan, the Director of Transgender Relations and Community Engagement for Chicago’s Center on Halsted; — Amy Shelton, a genderqueer photographer currently living and working in DeKalb. — Channyn Lynne Parker, a community advocate, public speaker and social service provider;— Phoenix Matthews, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. See hiretranschicago.com Facebook page: facebook.com/HireTransChicago/