C.O.T.T.O.N. builds a liberated ecosystem for Black & Black queer and trans people in the Bay Area by combining political education, community protection, cultural memory, and the creation of intentional third spaces. Our work connects historic West Coast Black movements to the current fight against anti-Blackness and anti-LGBT violence, displacement, and erasure. We operate from a Black queer, trans-feminist politic that prioritizes the people living at the margins of the margins.

We focus on moving our community from mutual aid to red aid—not charity, but solidarity, survival, resistance, and the redistribution of resources and power.

Our work is practiced through:

• Community Defense & Red Aid

• Third Spaces & Cultural Belonging

• Political Education & Historical Restoration

• Organizing & Campaign Building

• Leadership Development