Who is SNAP?

The Sanctuary New Orleans Abolition Project (SNAP) struggles alongside transgender and queer immigrants to liberate themselves, so they may begin to heal by engaging in joyful, creative activism for abolition in the Deep South. SNAP is a grassroots community project founded by Arely Westley and Mich González in late July 2024, in order to fill a dire gap in community outreach and organizing needs for their community. SNAP is fiscally sponsored by Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) with the support of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition. SNAP facilitates visits to the detention centers in the region where disparately impacted transgender and gender non-conforming immigrant community members are held, forcing them to survive systemic violence and compounded trauma, including harassment, assault, prolonged detention and coerced solitary confinement. SNAP will create several spaces for systems-impacted folks to connect, where they will have the opportunity to participate in and/or lead meditation, yoga, community workshops, know your rights programming, skills-sharing, cultural organizing, performance art, and abolitionist actions. In one of SNAP's current spaces, directly impacted people will be able to commune with nature by enjoying the companionship of emotional support rescue animals including but not limited to ten small dogs, two cats, two turtles, one bunny, several chickens and a growing garden. This aspect of the project is crucial because it centers healing and preventative advocacy that aims to decrease trauma for our community through increased connection and the power of communal joy.