“I’m doing this out of love. I’m doing this out of a necessity of wanting to see more trans women live past 28,” Tamika Spellman said. “I love my community and I love my people, and I want my community to have happiness and safety and be able to thrive.”
Tamika Spellman knows she can only do so much to protect Black transgender women in Birmingham from the violence she and so many others have faced.
Now, she wants to broaden her community of chosen family. She wants to be a stand-in grandmother to young Black trans women navigating transitions and adulthood by providing them a safe place to call home. That’s why she’s transforming the garage apartment of her home near the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport into a safe house called Grammy’s Place.
Both of TAKE’s safe houses and the future Grammy’s Place aim to connect residents with social services such as food assistance and help finding a job outside of sex work. TAKE accepts residents who are at least 18 years old, and Grammy’s Place will prioritize younger trans women, up to the age of 24.
At TAKE’s safe houses, neither sex work nor substance use is allowed. Duncan-Boyd said it’s a matter of upholding the safety of the home for residents, the organization’s liability, and to adhere to the city’s guidelines for providing shelter. The organization enforces drug testing for safe house residents and for those who don’t pass, TAKE connects them with counseling and rehabilitative programs.
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