Mass.Transgender Coalition Seeks Pepsi Grant of 25 Grand

Boston, MA - The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) has launched a campaign for votes to win a Pepsi Refresh Project grant of $25,000 to build support and acceptance of transgender people through education. MTPC has been chosen to compete for a grant in the Community category for July 2011. Winners are decided by total votes cast via the Internet and text messages throughout the month. The top 15 groups in each category will each win. Currently, MTPC is in #34 position.
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The Pepsi grant will help MTPC fund their multi-media public education campaign, I AM: Trans People Speak, aimed at raising awareness about the diverse communities of trans individuals. It consists of video, audio, photographic, and written stories from the trans community including trans individuals, their families, and allies. This project aims to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions of trans individuals by highlighting the realities of their lived experience. These voices span across a diversity of communities and intersecting identities.
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If selected by popular vote, MTPC will use an innovative social media awareness effort to bring positive stories of transgender people into the public sphere, along with printed placards on buses and subways across Massachusetts. This project, the first of its kind in the country, educates the public about transgender youth, adults and our families and gives transgender people a positive and safe forum to share their unique stories.
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Supporters can vote for MTPC up to 4 times a day, once from each of the following sources:�
1. Pepsi Refresh website. http://www.refresheverything.com/transpeoplespeak
2. Facebook. www.facebook.com/MassTPC
3. Texting. Text 107338 to PEPSI (73774) (Normal text rates apply).
4. Power Votes on specially-marked Pepsi products. Each power code could be worth up to 100 extra votes. Enter power votes on http://www.refresheverything.com/transpeoplespeak
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"Transgender people experience discrimination in almost all aspects of life - from employment, to healthcare, to housing, to education. I feel that some of this discrimination is due to lack of public education - that if people better understood transgender people and issues, they would be better equipped to make their own choices and decisions regarding how they felt, rather than relying on generalized and stereotyped accounts of transgender people that we too often see in the media," said Gunner Scott, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. "I AM: Trans People Speak was born out of a desire to create a forum where transgender people could tell their stories - without fear of inaccurate representation, unnecessary sensationalism, or ridicule."� �
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Pepsi is giving away $1.3 million every month during 2011 to projects that can 'change the world'.� Grant amounts range from $5000 to $250,000.� http://www.refresheverything.com .��
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Vote for MTPC three times a day, every day in July. To learn more visit http://pep.si/ivdaSo .
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For more information on I AM: Trans People Speak, please visit www.transpeoplespeak.org or direct questions to [email protected] For more information on the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition please visit http://www.masstpc.org
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The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is dedicated to ending discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. MTPC works for a world where persons of all genders are treated with respect and fully participate in all areas of society, free from fear of prohibition, harassment or violence based on their gender identity and/or expression.� Its members educate the public, advocate with state, local, and federal government, engage in political activism, and encourage empowerment of community members through collective action.