Introducing the Transgender Health & Wellness Center
Posted on March 27, 2023
OUR HISTORY
The Transgender Health and Wellness Center began as the Transgender Community Coalition (TCC). It is a certified 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In the beginning, its purpose was to raise funds for the first Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial Cenotaph Statue. Due to the strong demand by the local Transgender, Intersex, gender non-conforming, gender fluid, non-binary community, we became the largest Transgender organization in the Inland Empire, serving the needs of the local Transgender community. Currently, we all work in compassionate volunteer positions in a wide range of social services—including linkage to care, HIV/AIDS and PrEP education, housing, employment, and other support needs. Our mission is for this community to be empowered and reach their highest potential.
With over 40 active volunteers, the Trans Center serves in a wide variety of volunteer positions in other community organizations. We do this to ensure that Transgender people are visible and have a voice within the wider LGBT community. Partner organizations include:
- Desert AIDS Project
- Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast
- National Transgender HIV Testing Day
- Cathedral City LGBT Days
- Desert Stonewall Democrats
- National Center of Lesbian Rights
- Human Rights Campaign
- Equality California
- TruEvolution
- Borrego Health Care Foundation
- Eisenhower Medical Center
- Congressman Raul Ruiz
- Inland Empire Health Plan
- ViiV Healthcare
- Department of Justice
- Cars of Yester-Year
- The LGBT Community Center
- Temple Isaiah/ Jewish Community Center
- Bloom in the Desert Ministries
- Safe Schools of the Desert
- Latina Coalition
- Operation SafeHouse
- Sanctuary Palm Springs
- Palm Springs Unified School District
- Girl Scouts
- College of the Desert Gay-Straight Alliance
- APAIT
- Riverside County Public Health
- Riverside County Department of Mental Health
- Icon City Entertainment Organization
- Transgender Service of Excellence
In 2017, the Trans Center was recognized by Travelocity as being one of the main organizations that make Palm Springs the best place to live.
The Trans Center has served over 3,000 people since 2018, with over 1,100 new enrollments in 2021, linking them to medical and mental health care, legal services, housing, employment, and other resources. The Trans Center has facilitated training for approximately 1,200 healthcare professionals in the last year alone. The ongoing mission is to train other Transgender people to provide education on healthcare education, human resources, career, HIV and PrEP, and to develop possible future employment skillsets. We always aspire to broaden the resources of the Trans Center —including additional office space. When achieved, this will be a historical moment for the local Transgender community.
The Trans Center monitors correctional institutions to ensure LGBTQ+ inmates are free from sexual violence and are provided valuable resources for rehabilitation and safe community re-entry. The Trans Center responds to hundreds of letters a year from inmates.
The Trans Center created the Raina Chessman Fund—named after a Palm Springs Transgender woman who was murdered in Whitewater, California in 1999. The funds raised help the local Transgender community in the Coachella Valley during life crises. The Trans Center recognizes that many Transgender people do not have access to family support and employment—often as a consequence for living their authentic lives. In 2017, 9,434 people were educated about Raina and the Fund; and 323 persons participated in either supporting the Fund or borrowing from it. TGMondays, which is held on the second Monday of each month at Bongo Johnny’s Patio Bar and Grille, was created to help raise money for the Raina Chessman Fund. Without these generous donations, the local Transgender community would suffer greatly.
With the assistance of the Desert AIDS Project, the Trans Center received a 100-foot Transgender Pride flag to march in the annual Palm Springs Pride Parade. This flag is used to unify the Transgender community; and it sends the message that Transgender people exist and deserve equality. We share the flag with other cities so they too can send this valuable message.
The Trans Center brought Transgender Day of Remembrance to the next level in Palm Springs by providing special guests like national Transgender leaders Mya Taylor and Aydian Dowling. The first Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial Cenotaph Statue was created by the renowned artist, Health Satow in memory of all the Transgender people who have lost their lives to hate and violence.
MISSION
We aim to be the preeminent provider of services and support for the Transgender diverse community and our allies.
VISION
We aspire to provide a safe, prosperous, and healthy environment for Transgender people across Southern California.
VALUES
Transgender people can be straight, gay, bisexual, or asexual; and may be intersex, gender fluid, or any variety of queer non-binary. We serve the full spectrum of people, fostering a healthy, welcoming environment that nurtures each individual’s ability to live authentically.
PHILOSOPHY
We believe that the transgender people are entitled to the freedom to live how they want to live – empowered as self-defined and self-determined. We accomplish this by providing the necessary resources for each person to thrive in the identity they choose.
EQUITY
Those who live outside of the binary world are oftentimes pay a physical, emotional, and economic toll when trying to realize their constitutional rights. They often find themselves attending to their well-being all alone. We create an environment that nurtures trans individuals who feel dispossessed, alienated, or lost. We do this by opening doors–providing access to vital services that make a fulfilling life possible.
We help those contending with healthcare needs, legal problems, mental health issues, opening up new vistas of possibilities. We know how important it is to live authentically, and to fully actualize one’s own right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
ADVOCACY
We believe strongly in advocacy. That’s why we stand up for those who need a voice. In providing support for trans people in Southern California, we serve as a buffer to protect Trans people from possible retaliation. We work diligently to address on-going problems, and strive to change laws in order to ensure that all people can have dignity and respect. That’s why we have earned our reputation as a trusted ally for California’s trans community.
PALM SPRINGS
340 South Farrell Drive,
Suite A208,
Palm Springs, CA 92262
HOURS
Monday-Friday
11 am to 5 pm PST
E-MAIL
Contact Us
OFFICE NUMBERS
(760) 202-4308
(760) 656-4141
FAX
(760) 818-8025
RIVERSIDE 1
6700 Indiana Ave suite 252,
Riverside, CA 92506
HOURS
Monday-Friday
10 am to 5 pm PST
E-MAIL
Contact Us
OFFICE NUMBERS
(951) 530-8257
(951) 530-8217
FAX
(760) 818-8025
RIVERSIDE II
6840 Indiana Avenue,
Riverside, CA 92506
HOURS
Monday-Friday
11 am to 5 pm PST
E-MAIL
Contact Us
OFFICE NUMBERS
(951) 530-8148
(951) 530-8139
FAX
(760) 818-8025
SAN DIEGO
3737 Moraga Ave, A204,
San Diego, CA 92117