Public Statement on Organizational Restructuring

February 20, 2025

To Our Valued Community Members, Partners, and Supporters;

As a dedicated organization committed to serving our community, we continually assess how best to meet evolving needs. In response to the radically changing circumstances of our Country and thus the needs of our community; Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS) is undergoing a complete and total strategic restructuring to enhance our impact and better serve those who rely on our services.

Over the past year, we have been carefully evaluating the shifting landscape of community needs through feedback, as well as national and local evaluations regarding the current Administration. Ultimately we found that restructuring programing and organizational structure was necessary in order to serve the community to the best of our ability. This restructuring will allow us to align our programs and services more effectively, ensuring sustainability and responsiveness to the most pressing challenges the trans and LGBTQIA+ community as a whole are currently facing. 

Key changes include:

Program Adjustments: The org will be refining our initiatives and once again directing our focus to our 3 pillars; Support, Advocacy, and Community Action through; mutual aid, individual and community advocacy, and security/medical services and consulting.

Operational Shifts: Leadership and programming roles will be made up of current community volunteer security & medical team members of Securing Our Own People (SOOP), and any other community volunteers who are interested in leadership roles.

Collaboration & Partnerships: The org will be re-evaluating all partnerships to see where we may be able to still work together, and seeking new opportunities to partner, learn from, and assist. 

We recognize that change can be challenging, but we are confident that these adjustments will position this organization to make the greatest impact it can during this time. 

We have been honored to be able to serve in person so openly, so unabashedly, for so many years now. We are not hiding, nor asking you to either, instead we are recognizing where we can help and where we can’t, and allowing those that can, the assistance to do so.

We deeply appreciate your ongoing support as we move forward. Together, we will continue building a stronger, more resilient community. We will not be erased.

With gratitude,

The DAPS Board of Directors

Land Acknowledgement

Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound acknowledges that all our members live and work on the unceded homelands of Native peoples, who have lived in this region since time immemorial. The homes of those who govern this organization are located on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish, Chehalis, Klallam, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Quinault, Duwamish, Snoqualmie, Suquamish, Stkamish, Smulkamis, Skopamish, Snohomish, Sduhubš, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples, the Mthe Steh-Chass Band of Indigenous people of the Squaxin Island, the Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Tulalip, Spokane Tribes, the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, and the Ohlone/Costanoan Esselen Nation. We acknowledge that fluid and diverse gender identities have been present in Indigenous communities since long before the arrival of western colonizers, and that these identities subsequently have been systematically oppressed through violence. We stand in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples who still occupy and safeguard these lands, and recognize that a land acknowledgement is only a small step towards allyship, which must be accompanied by action. We commit to respecting, celebrating, and uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of Native people as we advocate for the liberation of all people existing beyond the confines of societal gender roles.

Learn whose land you live on CLICK HERE.

“You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights.”

-Marsha P. Johnson

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