Compassion in Crisis
A messaging lifeline for communities at risk
FemSMS: Pride Edition is a trauma-informed SMS service co-designed with trans, immigrant, and exiled LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers. Compassionate messages — about safety, housing, health, and belonging — delivered straight to your phone.
A project by Footage Foundation · Supported by NYC Pride Gives Back · In partnership with QARAVAN
Background. What is FemSMS?
FemSMS is a messaging lifeline developed by Footage Foundation — first launched in 2022 in response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It sends life-affirming, trauma-informed messages directly to people's phones: not directives, not bureaucratic instructions, but warmth. Information that feels human. Words that remind people they matter.
The NYC pilot — FemSMS: Pride Edition — is the first adaptation designed with and for trans, immigrant, and exiled LGBTQIA+ communities in the United States. It is co-designed with community members from the ground up, with lived experience at the centre of every decision.
TRAUMA-INFORMED
Every message is non-directive, gentle, and designed to meet people where they are — not where we think they should be.
MULTILINGUAL
Messages are developed in multiple languages, because safety information should reach you in the language your heart speaks.
COMMUNITY CO-DESIGNED
Participants aren't recipients of a service built about them. They are paid co-creators, knowledgeholders, and the reason this works.
MEETS YOU WHERE YOU ARE — SMS
No app download. No account. No waiting room. Your phone buzzes and something kind is there.