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PRISM Project at threat of closure from foreign aid stop order

Dear Friends,

We have received some devastating news and are making an urgent request for emergency funding to sustain our PRISM Project. This is a first-of-its-kind project designed to improve mental health services and protections for LGBTQI+ refugee youth in humanitarian settings, and it is now under attack.

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department, working under the orders of Donald Trump, issued a stop work order for PRISM, resulting in the abrupt withdrawal of funding for this project without alternative sources.

The directive came at a pivotal moment for the project — our researcher had just landed in Colombia to lead a team  working with LGBTQI+ Venezuelan refugee youth and other Colombian LGBTQI+ youth impacted by years of conflict in their communities. She and the team were ordered to abruptly stop research activities.

The new administration’s orders to stop foreign aid are devastating — for the PRISM Project, for LGBTQI+ youth and communities, and for humanitarian response efforts globally. The order targets projects and programs supporting transgender children and youth, who already suffer significantly higher rates of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse than cisgender children. Our findings from this year’s fieldwork were meant to develop new guidance for global practitioners on child protection, gender-based violence, and mental health and psychosocial support for this critically marginalized community. But without immediate intervention, the project will now be terminated.

We are reaching out to help sustain the PRISM project at this crucial juncture. Please consider what you can give to support LGBTQI+ children and youth impacted by humanitarian emergencies. We need $300,000 to do the work we have promised to these youth.

Your contribution enables us to continue building a safer world for LGBTQI+ refugee youth everywhere. 

Thank you, as always, for your partnership, and your commitment to global human rights.