The 2013 Color of Change Community Summit is a 2.5 day-long conference set to take place Friday, April 12th through Sunday, April 14th at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. The mission of the Summit is to build community and cultivate power around the lived experiences of queer and trans* people of color (QTPoC) in the state of Michigan. By drawing on the collective wisdom and expertise of our local communities, we hope to equip Summit participants with the skills they need to be part of the ongoing struggle for liberation.

We are organizing this conference because we believe it is necessary. Despite recent wins in the national marriage equality movement, QTPoC continue to fight for their daily survival. This is especially true in the state of Michigan, where QTPoC suffer from a hostile political environment that perpetuates unequal access to quality education, routine violence, and sustained attacks on our health and general well being. Color of Change serves as a student-led response to these injustices.

Note: For the purposes of this conference, we will be using “queer and trans*” as umbrella terms to refer to anyone who does not solely self-identify as heterosexual and/or cisgender. This includes, but is not limited to, folks who identify as gay, pansexual, asexual, questioning, genderqueer, same-gender-loving, stud, femme, etc.