Statement of Need:
This project serves LGBTQ homeless youth. We will empowering youth, under the age of 24, in San Francisco to create leadership among LGBTQ youth throughout the country. This population is primarily youth of color, transgender, individuals with disabilities who are living in poverty. Of the estimated 5,300 homeless youth in San Francisco, 2,300 are thought to be LGBTQ. In 2007, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition on Homelessness concluded in their joint study, "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness," that 40 percent of homeless youth in this country identify as LGBT.
Brief Project Description:
Short Program Description: the LGBTQ Homeless Youth Leadership Project (HYLP) has four main aspects: 1) weekly support and mentoring for LGBTQ homeless youth in San Francisco; 2) training and educational opportunities for individuals, communities and faith groups interested in supporting LGBTQ homeless youth; 3) a National Leadership Conference for LGBTQ Homeless Youth; and 4) a curriculum to enable organizations that support LGBTQ homeless youth to replicate the project.
1) Direct Support for Homeless LGBTQ Youth - HYLP will empower homeless LGBTQ young adults, through the use of skill shares, whole body care and leadership development, to advocate for their own needs and to become self sustaining individuals. These weekly meetings will create opportunities for intergenerational mentoring and support for LGBTQ youth leaders to direct the programming and structure of the gatherings. (2011-2013)
2) Education and Mentoring - HYLP will both train volunteers, service providers and church leaders to provide support for LGBTQ homeless youth in San Francisco and to strengthen the system of care by creating connections between organizations, businesses and city agencies that support homeless LGBTQ youth.
a) Education - Continuing the speaking tour about the history and needs of homeless youth started in the Vanguard Revisited Project, we will take our speaking tour to additional communities that have requested it (including: Salt Lake City, Houston, Seattle, Phoenix and Chicago).
b) Mentoring - In partnership with The San Francisco Night Ministry and St Paulus Lutheran Church (this collaborative group is called SF CARE), Welcome will coordinate a monthly training and support group to provide feedback, professional oversight and mentoring opportunities for volunteers working with the homeless in San Francisco. This support group will also train and support a new group of mentors who will support LGBTQ homeless youth. (2011-2013)
3) National Leadership Conference - Development of the National Leadership Conference will take two years. In the first year we will work in San Francisco and with the youth and advocates that have participated in the Vanguard Revisited speaking tour to empower LGBTQ homeless youth to become leaders who will design and help lead a conference the following year in Washington D.C. where LGBTQ homeless youth will work together to articulate their needs as a group and learn how to share those needs with representatives of national programs and members of congress. (2013)
4) Replicating the Project Across the Country - In our travels across the country and particularly at the Human Rights Campaign's Clergy Call, where information about the Vanguard Revisited Project was presented, congregations and organizations that work with LGBTQ homeless youth across the country have asked Welcome to create a curriculum that will enable them to replicate our work in their community. This curriculum will be shared in two ways:
a) Empowering LGBTQ Homeless Youth - this curriculum will provide interactive multimedia training and activities that enable faith groups and other organizations that work with LGBTQ homeless youth and use the history of homeless youth in San Francisco to empower and provide leadership opportunities for homeless youth across the country.
b) Training Volunteers and Mentors - Welcome created interactive multimedia trainings and classes featuring the collaborating partners in SF CARE. Talks on deep listening, ethical boundaries, deescalating conflicts, basic training on supporting individuals with chronic mental health issues and the laws and history of homelessness in San Francisco will be taught by the Revs. Megan Rohrer, Dawn Roginski, Lyle Beckmen, Dan Solberg and Valerie McEntee. [General Version Lutheran Version]
