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LGBT and Homeless in NYC: What to do if LGBT and homeless?
- By Antoine Craigwell
- Published 01/25/2009
- Youth
-
Rating:
Antoine Craigwell
Antoine B. Craigwell graduated from Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York with a double major in psychology and journalism. As a journalist, he has written for several publications. His articles have appeared in Fortune Small Business (FSB), the Villager Newspapers in Northeastern Connecticut, The Bronx Times Reporter and The Bronx Times, The Amsterdam News, and recently for The Network Journal, in New York City.
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LGBT and Homeless in NYC: What to do if LGBT and homeless?
Photography courtesy of Lucky Michaels, Sylvia's Place
(New York, NY) Sitting opposite me in a subway car as the A train rolled through a tunnel in Brooklyn was a light skinned Black young man, seemingly between 17 or 19-year-old, dressed in New York's black uniform: black sweater, black jacket, and black cargo pants, with black boots.
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It was Thanksgiving night about 11:30 p.m., and the temperature outside was close to freezing. Feeling satisfied and thinking of sleep, I was returning home from celebrating the holiday with my family when I was roused from my near sleeping state by the sound of conversation cutting into the hypnotic clickity-clack humming of the subway's wheels on the rails. The young man who was seated in a side facing seat had asked another young man in a forward facing seat, for a dollar. The young man looked over in my direction asking me if I spoke Spanish. Replying that I did, he asked me again what was it that the young man in black was asking, I enquired and translating from Spanish to English and English to Spanish, that the other young man didn't have any money. At which point the young man in black proceeded to shared with me his night's misfortune. He said he had recently moved to New York from Philadelphia to take a job which didn't work out, and had been asked to leave the place where he was staying. With no family and no place to go, he was trying to understand and to stitch something together for himself, if only for that night. | ||||
| Photography courtesy of Lucky Michaels, Sylvia's Place | ||||
| Listening to the young man and remembering I had recently written two articles about homeless LGBT youth in NYC, I asked myself, where would someone who is young, LGBT, and who is suddenly rendered homeless, go for shelter? Who to call? I was stumped, so I suggested the young man in black call the city's 311-service to see what help or direction he would receive. It dawned on me to ask the heads of non-profit agencies and others, what they would say should they encounter someone suddenly rendered homeless. According to Charles Jones, LCSW-R, there is an organization in the Bronx that is the Bronx's "answer" to the Center in Manhattan - The Bronx Community Pride Center. It is located on 149th Street, one block east of Third Avenue, where he could be referred for services. There is Safe Horizon's Streetworks Program, currently housed at 165 West 131st Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10027. The Streetworks program works with homeless and marginally homeless youths up to 24-years old. However, while Streetworks is not LGBT-focused, they are aware of the issues facing the population. | ||||
| Jones suggests that while Covenant House may be a first recommendation, it might be less likely a place to which he would refer someone who is new to New York. He stated that over the years, Covenant House has become somewhat notorious for breeding predators within their gates, streetwise kids who prey on NYC neophytes without mercy. While he admits that, things may have changed at Covenant House, he doubts it very seriously.
Another organization he suggests is the Salvation Army, and says that for inasmuch as they offer programs and services for youths, mainly in the foster care system which, in turn means this kid may need to enter the ACS system to access care, he would not entrust anyone to their care. Their houses seem to be filled with the same types as Covenant House: drug dealers, nascent pimps, prostitutes, and other such characters. | ||||
| Steve Welch, LCSW-R, with Harlem United, suggests the young man contact the Ali Forney Center (AFC) or the LGBT Community Center on West 13th Street. But Colleen Jackson, executive director of the West End Intergenerational Residence, recommends contacting the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) at their Website, which has instructions and locations of drop-in and intake centers for homeless individuals. "We are the only crisis facility equipped to handle this population of homeless LGBT Youth in NYC. We are the first and last stop for the youth. When they go to Ali Forney Center and find that they have a waiting list for a bed, AFC sends them to us. If they are on the street and ask another youth, they send them to us. If they show up here anytime of the night and have never been here before, even if we are overfull, we will give them a place to stay," says Lucky Michaels, director, Metropolitan Community Church, New York (MCCNY) homeless shelter program, Sylvia's Place. | ||||
| Michaels said that of the available facilities, typically many of the city's homeless LGBT youth begin at Sylvia's Place or wait on the street until a bed becomes available at AFC or a cot opens up at Trinity, where if they get into those places, they usually either get discharged or kicked out and come to us next, or if they make it through AFC and can get a job or get into school and a bed opens at Green Chimneys, based in Brewster, NY with locations in the five boroughs, then they move on to a transitional living program. But most of these young people can't do this and so they hope they can get on some sort of financial assistance and get an apartment, but usually many return to Sylvia's Place more than once. All of the organizations are doing great work, says Michaels, and doing the best they can to serve this population. On any given night there are 3,500 to 5,000 homeless youth on the streets of NYC, where 40 -50 percent identify as LGBT, and there are only 75 beds for LGBT youth including Sylvia's Place, AFC, Green Chimneys, and Trinity; for all of the young people to share and which all the organizations in a juggling act to provide for as many as they can and to work with each other to better serve the youth. | ||||
| Many of the agencies, Michaels says, have programs with psychological and medical components to them, providing care for many of the young people regardless of documentation or status, so undocumented immigrants and those who are HIV positive, are represented, receive care and case management.
Case workers, he adds, at the agencies work to get the homeless young people appropriate health care and legal services, including documents to begin legalization, or just to get their identification, change identification if needed as with the transgender clients and work on name and gender changes with all the proper government agencies.
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Resources for Homeless LGBT Youth | ||||
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1 Response to "LGBT and Homeless in NYC: What to do if LGBT and homeless?"
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said this on 26 Jan 2009 1:19:37 PM CDT
Safe Horizon's Stree
We just |
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