Cyndi Lauper's song names NYC LGBT homeless youth residence.

By Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) While debates and protests intensify over California's Proposition 8, and the marriage and constitutional amendments nationwide, there is a project in New York City addressing the issue of homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth.



 

After attending a forum on homeless LGBT youth and hearing a number of these young people speaking of their experiences living on the streets and the horror stories they had encountered while in the Department of Homeless Service shelters because of who they are, an idea popped into the head of Colleen Jackson, executive director, West End Intergenerational Residences.
   
 
   
"I knew there had to be something that could be done, but I also knew that another shelter was not the answer," said Jackson.

In May 2007, while organizing a fundraiser and honoring 1980s superstar Cyndi Lauper, Jackson discussed with Lisa Barbaris, who for several years was a volunteer with West End and is Lauper's publicist, about the True Colors tour and how one of the tours addressed the plight of homeless LGBT youth. Through the connection with Barbaris, Lauper and Jackson discussed providing housing for the "kids."
     
 
Cyndi Lauper   Colleen Jackson
     
"I looked at her [Lauper] and it all came together in my mind, real permanent housing and I knew this would really work. This I knew how to do and with Cyndi's commitment, though we haven't started building as yet, she has been promoting it," Jackson said.

True Colors Residences is permanent housing for homeless LGBT youth, named after Lauper's song "True Colors:"

"… I see your true colors/shining through/I see your true colors/and that's why I love you/so don't be afraid to let them show/your true colors/true colors are beautiful/like a rainbow."
 
The Residences is intended to be a six-storey, 30-studio unit building, which is estimated to cost between $8 and $9 million. Construction on the residence, to be located on a double lot, 50-feet by 100-feet and costing $1.5 million, at 267-269 West 154th Street, is slated to begin in late spring 2009 and be completed, ready to open its doors, by spring 2010.

A January 2007 report by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Runaway Switchboard, revealed that some 42 percent of homeless youth identified as LGBT, compared to 5 percent of the overall population identifying as such, or close to 8,400 of the 15,000 to 20,000, were homeless in NYC. The report also revealed that 50 percent of gay male teens, between 13 and 24 years old, who came out to their parents, experienced such a negative reaction, that about 26 percent were sometimes forcibly separated from their homes, families and support structures and ended up calling the streets their home.
In fact, the Ali Forney Center was founded and named after an African-American homeless gay teen, Ali Forney, who was brutally murdered on the streets of Harlem. The statistics also state that many homeless LGBT youth are more likely to suffer from mental health issues and substance abuse than their heterosexual peers, which in turn create roadblocks to achieving stability, developing meaningful relationships and job readiness.

The Residences, Jackson said, would provide permanent housing for youth 18 to 24 years old who have a history of homelessness, aging out of the foster care system, or independent living programs.

"Young people who age out of programs like Green Chimneys or AFC could come to True Colors if they have no place to go," said Jackson.

The Residences is being constructed with help from the city's Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD), with whom West End has worked in the past, to obtain a mortgage, with the office of special needs within HPD to provide support for capital projects, and a contract with the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who would be providing the service side of the project; and is a low income housing tax credit.
Also, because of the funding streams for this project, True Colors as a separate legal entity would have its own admission procedures and requirements, which because of the age of the residents, needs to comply with the Agency for Children Services (ACS) guidelines. When a client, a homeless LGBT youth, comes to True Colors for housing assistance, he or she would be subject to an initial interview screening and evaluation, and when completed, contact would be made with the appropriate person at ACS to approve the client who would then be sent back to True Colors.

"As of now I really can't speak with great knowledge on how the process will work, but I was assured that the process would be short. I know of bureaucracies and I wouldn't want to have someone needing housing wait too long," Jackson said.
Prospective residents would have to sign a basic rent stabilization lease for either one or two years with the average rent subsidized from Section-8 for a studio, under HPD guidelines. If the rent is $120 a month, a resident would be expected to contribute 30 percent of it and the balance would be paid from Public Assistance. The Residences would also offer a life skills coach to help the young people with life skills and employment needs.
With the current economic crises, especially with challenges to many state and city agency budgets, Jackson is not aware that funding for this building project is in jeopardy of being cut or reduced. The architects, Edelman Sultan Knox Wood, have prepared the construction schematics which have been approved by HPD, and are in the process of preparing the various other related documents.

True Colors Residences has entered into partnerships with several city-wide non-profit agencies, such as Green Chimneys, AFC, Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), Rehoboth Temple Christ Conscious Church (RTCCC), The Hetrick Martin Institute (HMI), The LGBT Community Center, the Metropolitan Community Church, and the William F. Ryan Center, to have a unified plan, and referral policy and procedure to handle the young people coming for help. HMI would provide educational services, where the young people would either attend school at Harvey Milk School or be part of the GED program.

"We know here at West End how important education is and we know at True Colors how important it is to have access to an education without being stigmatized or discriminated against. It is because of the vital nature of this that we reached out to HMI," she said.
According to Tokes Osubu, executive director, GMAD, his organization was approached by Jackson because she knew of their work with youth, especially the homeless program. When the building is complete, he said, drawing on their expertise and skills, GMAD plans to host groups there. GMAD, Osubu said, has one of the only mental health programs in the state, addressing depression and working with HIV positive homeless youth, numbering close to 100, but who are transient.

"One of the benefits of this housing project is that it offers stable support to many of these youth who without that stability bounce around from place to place," he said.

Also commenting on the effect of the economic crises on the work of agencies, Carl Siciliano, executive director, AFC, said that while there is significant private support to offer housing and services to homeless LGBT youth, the government grants to his agency simply do not give enough to meet the real costs of housing young people in the city. AFC has to raise about $1million a year to break even.
"I am frightened as to how the recent financial crisis will impact us. We get close to half of our private donations between Thanksgiving and New Years, so the next six weeks will tell me a lot," he said.

Regarding his agency's support for True Colors, Siciliano said that since hearing about it in early spring and not much since, he was wondering how the recent financial meltdown has impacted plans.

"We would be thrilled to have a permanent residence to refer our clients, especially those aging out," he added.
Carl Siciliano

Rev. Joseph Tolton, pastor of RTCCC, said that he too was approached by Jackson who presented her vision in which he found commonalities and appeal, since in the community they both recognized a lot of young people have been disenfranchised.

The Residences, he said, would comprehensively address the needs of the young people, and his organization's contribution would be in the form of sharing best practices, ideas and implementation of social services.

"We're contributing to the project by lending our support, as we recognize the need, with same gender loving people in the community, to share benefits and programs as well as a faith based element, which we would also bring," said Tolton.

 
Rev. Joseph Tolton, pastor, Harlem-based Rehoboth Temple Christ Consciousness Church seated second from the right.
Jackson said that from her understanding of ACS and other agencies providing services for LGBT youth, she expects that the majority of the youth would be of color as the composition of her organization's client base, the Residences' location addresses a need in Harlem.

"I'm optimistic that our people would have a resource and facility within the community rather than having to go someplace else for help," said Tolton.

"Show me a smile then/don't be unhappy, can't remember/when I last saw you laughing/if this world makes you crazy/and you've taken all you can bear/you call me up/because you know I'll be there."