It all begins with a story.

One of the problems we encounter in best serving this population is the lack of conclusive, comprehensive, reliable data. If we don't have the numbers, how do we know how to proceed? For example, many local jails do not ask for gender identity apart from gender assigned at birth. Many do not include sexual orientation information. And many people are not honest if they ARE asked these questions, for fear of discrimination and stigma. So what we want to do is accumulate a body of data that is voluntary, responsive, and inclusive.

To this end, Fenix Collective is conducting a participatory research study that is two-fold: we want to gather the data, and we want to gather the stories. The goal is to use the data to inform policy and programming, and to use the stories as a way to advocate for and celebrate the lives of LGBTQIA+ FIPs. We call it DATA DRIVEN PASSION.

Data Driven Passion supports system-impacted people in documenting their own experiences, producing both quantitative and narrative-based data that can shape public understanding and policymaking. Using oral histories, digital archives, and visual storytelling, this work reclaims authorship from systems that have long misrepresented and pathologized our communities. Our aim is not only to tell new stories, but to change who gets to define what counts as knowledge and truth. First, take our survey! Share your information with us (confidentially, of course) and help us get reliable numbers on important issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ Formerly Formerly Incarcerated population:

https://forms.gle/S5RmnjoSnYgu1RJP8

We invite you to share your stories with us. Whether you want to send us a written sample, an audio clip, or a video, WE WANT TO HEAR YOU.

Tell us whatever you want us to hear about: your incarceration story, your mental health story, your addiction story, your recovery story. Tell us about your trauma and how you have begun healing. Tell us your whys, your hows, your hopes and dreams for a future that is different from the now.

You are the historian, the researcher, the archivist.

NOTE: By uploading your story to DATA DRIVEN PASSION, the participant acknowledges that Fenix Collective may post, comment on, and share this content without further permission. Uploading stories is considered a release of information and relinquishment of all digital or other property rights to this content. However, the creator retains all ownership of the content, and has the right to withdraw their permission AT ANY TIME, without notice, upon written request to FENIX COLLECTIVE.