BROOKLYN Unchained: Caribbean LGBTQ Immigrant Support Group

WE CAN’T DO THIS WORK WITHOUT YOU! HELP US SUSTAIN UNCHAINED IN 2024. DONATE HERE.

“Breaking the Rejection Cycle, Building COMMUNITY”

Launched in 2015, Unchained is the first of its kind in New York City. The Caribbean Equality Project's nine-year-running peer-to-peer immigrant support group anchors the organization's Healing Justice work. Unchained creates an empowering space to affirm the unique cultural experiences and identities of Caribbean LGBTQ+ immigrants, HIV-impacted people, and survivors of family rejection, discrimination, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault to heal and build community in NYC.

The Caribbean Equality Project’s Brooklyn Unchained group has roots in building community in a time of unprecedented isolation and grief. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC, we expanded our healing justice work to meet the emotional needs of the Caribbean LGBTQ+ community in NYC and beyond. Launched in 2020, during a global pandemic, as a virtual version of the inaugural in-person Queens Unchained support group, the Brooklyn Unchained iteration quickly became an international safe space to heal and unpack the pandemic, the isolation, unresolved feelings, and the uncertainty that came with it. The virtual group evolved into a transformative therapeutic space, support network, and a staple independent of its in-person Queens counterpart. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we created a virtual space to connect locally, nationally, and globally with the Caribbean rainbow family during this era of physical distancing and spaciousness, self-isolation, and staying home to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Meeting Dates: Last Monday of every month, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Meeting Location: Brooklyn Community Pride Center - Crown Heights: 1561 Bedford Ave, Suite Ground A, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Registration is required. RSVP HERE at https://bit.ly/BrooklynUnchained

Unchained creates hyper-local healing spaces in Caribbean-centric neighborhoods such as Little Caribbean in Brooklyn. The program facilitates intergenerational dialogue with topics centered on education to ending stigma, building healthier relationships, celebrating diversity, promoting empowerment, and fostering family acceptance.

Members gain support and guidance through discussion on various topics such as coming out, family, LGBTQIA-related phobias, social norms, relationships and dating, sexual fluidity, and health/wellness.

The Brooklyn Unchained group will hold in-person and virtual spaces for participants to release anxiety, combat loneliness, gain tools for managing stress, and be resilient. Mohamed Q. Amin is the guest facilitator of the support group, and Sai manages the program.

To RSVP, email info@CaribbeanEqualityProject.org or call our confidential hotline at 347.709.3179.

About Caribbean Equality Project:
The Caribbean Equality Project (CEP) is an NYC-based community organization that empowers, advocates for, and represents Afro and Indo-Caribbean, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, and queer Caribbean immigrants in New York City. Through public education, community organizing, civic engagement, storytelling, and cultural and social programming, the organization's work focuses on advocacy for LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights, gender equity, racial justice, immigration, and mental health services, and ending hate violence in the Caribbean diaspora. To date, CEP is the only educational-based agency serving the Caribbean-American LGBTQ+ community in New York City, dedicated to cultivating supportive and progressive Caribbean neighborhoods free of violence, oppression, and discrimination. The organization's intersectional organizing fosters solidarity, community partnerships, and greater family acceptance in New York and beyond.

To learn more about the Caribbean Equality Project and for regular updates on our work, connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at @CaribbeanEqualityProject, and Twitter at @CaribEquality.

Support and Funding Provided by: