Kindred Connections Collective

Background

The Kindred Connections Collective was founded in 2019 by left-of-center activists Vikó Velazquez Morales, T Loving, and Mirely Baca. It is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ, sometimes styled AfGJ), a left-leaning advocacy organization and fiscal sponsor, which also supports projects such as Refuse Fascism, United Students Against Sweatshops, and Stop Mass Incarceration.  ^{2 3 4 5 6}

In a section titled “Ancestral Wisdom” of Kindred Connections Collective’s official framework, the organization claims that for a long period of time, there has been “work” to “keep” the communities the organization represents “fragmented and oppressed,” which “comes for” said communities’ languages, names, and “foodways.” ¹

Activities

The Kindred Connections Collective operates several programs, including a “Garden Group,” a gardening program in which participants are provided with tools and guidance; “Healing Circles,” facilitator-led wellness programs; “Summer Care,” a program which locally distributes heat protectants, medicine, and other supplies; “Queer Cheer,” a holiday program involving  community meal, care package, and support services, including small monetary grants; “TDOR,” a program that usually takes place on or around November 20, the so-called Trans Day of Remembrance, in which participants hold a vigil; Meal Sharing, a program in which the organization provides food at various locations; and Radical Roots Retreat, a two night community-building retreat program. ^{6 1}

According to reporting from Tucson Spotlight, the organization went on hiatus for a period during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⁶

Funding

Kindred Connections Collective has received funding from the Trans Justice Funding Project, the Community Food Bank of Sothern Arizona, Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Alliance Fund, which is an initiative of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona. ^{6 7 8}

As of September 1, 2025, Kindred Connections Collective accepts donations to its “Fund Our Futures” campaign though the fundraising platform Ko-Fi. ⁹

In a notice posted on the Kindred Connection Collective’s website, the organization noted that it had “issues in finding/receiving funds” and did “not have the $$” to operate its “Summer Care Packs” program in 2025. ¹

Leadership

Viko Velazquez Morales is a co-founder and as of 2025 was working as crew member at Kindred Connections Collective. Previously, Morales worked as an apprentice with Public Allies, a left-of-center organization funded by Americorps, as well as one.n.ten, a youth-focused LGBT-issues organization. ^{6 1}

T Loving is a co-founder and as of 2025 was working as a crew member at Kindred Connections Collective. Previously, Loving worked for the festival touring production of Scars and Stripes with the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, as a project collaborator with activist Lola Rainey, an emcee for the “Rainbow Graduation” program hosted by the University of Arizona’s LGBTQ+2S Resource Center, and as a performer at the Kore Press’s Queer Performance Salon in May 2018. ^{6 10 1 11}

Mirely Baca is a co-founder and crew member at Kindred Connections Collective. According to her official biography on the organization’s website, she is a “hermit.” ^{6 1}