On January 24th, I created The Mexicanx Initiative to sponsor Worldcon 76 Attending Memberships for a few deserving Mexicanx sf/f professionals and fans to attend the con. It was an idea I imagined when I was named Artist Guest of Honor last August, and the idea quickly became a ‘thing’ as some amazing friends and allies joined in, until we fully funded 50(!!!) Attending Memberships to Worldcon this summer.

The number of requests for these memberships has been overwhelming, rolling in from north and south of the current US/Mexico border — and they continue to roll in. To date, we’ve granted 34 Attending Memberships and you can see those amazing all-star Recipients pictured above. That means 16 more decisions have to be made in the coming weeks. I’ve been moving at a fast, but thorough pace, announcing several per week, but that will now slow down as final roster spots are considered. So once that’s done, mission accomplished, right?

Not quite.

Publicly, I’ve been generating Sponsorship money for the Mexicanx Initiative’s Membership Fund, but all the while, I’ve also been secretly working on a second Mexicanx Initiative Fund.

Enter the M.I.’s Assistance Fund.

While the initial Membership Fund is essentially “mission accomplished” because we fully funded 50 Attending Memberships, the Assistance Fund has been accepting separate monies since January, for helping Recipients with their travel, hotel and food needs because so many face an expensive, sometimes complex, journey. I’ve been doing that without going public, but as of today — anyone can give to The Fund, encouraging diversity and inclusion toward a stronger, more balanced sf/f field.

And here’s where you make it happen:
Donate To MEXICANX INITIATIVE ASSISTANCE FUND.

Your money will go directly to Worldcon’s Treasury. They will allocate it toward The Assistance Fund (different from the already-completed Sponsored Membership Fund). How will the Assistance Fund money be distributed to the Recipients? Every dollar will be given to the Recipients via Worldcon 76’s Registration Team at the convention in August, and will be distributed in equal portions. I suspect our south-of-the-border Mexicanx will receive the bulk of the funds, divided evenly amongst them. The north-of-the-border Mexicanx will receive the remainder, again divided evenly amongst them. No Assistance grants will be distributed until funding is completed, but 100% will go to our Membership Recipients at Worldcon 76.

This way, all will receive a share of assistance, but the south-of-the-border attendees will receive more than the north, which is what I want. In the coming weeks, I hope we can generate at least $15,000 to help these folks make their Worldcon dream come true, and from what I’m hearing, we already have $6000 toward that figure.

Let’s do this.

Appreciated, all.

In Loteria We Trust.