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ALI FORNEY CENTER ANNOUNCES OPENING OF 20-BED BROOKLYN SHELTER FOR NYC’S HOMELESS LGBT YOUTH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: For more information or for photos of the new shelter, contact Cathy Renna, 917-757-6123, cathy@rennacommunications.com

ALI FORNEY CENTER ANNOUNCES OPENING OF 20-BED BROOKLYN SHELTER FOR NYC’S HOMELESS LGBT YOUTH

NEW YORK, NY – November 8, 2011 – On the evening of Monday, November 7, The Ali Forney Center (AFC), the nation’s largest organization working on behalf of homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, reopened a 20-bed emergency shelter in Brooklyn as a shelter specifically for this population. The reopening was made possible by a $620,000 grant from the New York City Council, turned over to the AFC by the New York City Dept. of Youth and Community Development.

As the shelter is an existing shelter, previously operated by an organization that failed to comply with licensing requirements, it does not add to the city’s total number of shelter beds, which currently stands at around 250. However, it does increase the percentage of such beds set aside for LGBT youth, and brings the total of AFC-operated beds to 77. Nonetheless, the AFC’s waiting list currently stands at 199 youths – a figure which has grown by 40 percent in the last year alone.

Room and Board has teamed up with AFC to provide the Center with furnishing and design for this new location. The Soho-based furniture retailer has donated home furnishings to outfit this new location which include couches, rugs, lamps, wall art, and other items to create a homelike environment for the youth staying there.

A census released in 2008 by the Empire State Coalition found that almost 4000 youths must go without shelter each night in New York. LGBT youths make up 40% of this population, and face far greater risks of violence, sexual assault, drug use, HIV infection, and suicide than their straight counterparts as they struggle to survive on the streets without shelter. These youths make up a disproportionate percentage due to so many being rejected by their families because of their sexual orientations and gender identities.

Nonetheless, New York State recently cut its funding for youth shelter beds by 50%, although the existing beds are only enough to serve a tiny percentage of this population. In response to this crisis, the Ali Forney Center and a number of allied organizations have launched the Campaign for Youth Shelter. This initiative calls on Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo, the New York City Council, and the New York State Legislature to back an additional $3 million in annual funding, set aside to create 100 new shelter beds every year.

Said Carl Siciliano, founder and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center: “I am thrilled that we are able to house 20 more young people, especially at this time when the weather is getting colder and the need is so urgent. This is one more small step towards our goal of having NYC be a place where no child is forced to wait alone on the streets for a shelter bed.”

The shelter’s opening follows a successful October 24 rally in Union Square, at which hundreds of New Yorkers came together in support of the Campaign for Youth Shelter and its goal of establishing a shelter bed for every homeless youth in the city. More information on the Campaign for Youth Shelter is available at: http://aliforneycenter.org/youthshelter.html

About the Ali Forney Center

The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in June of 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. The Center is committed to providing these young people with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met, and where they can begin to put their lives back together. AFC is dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of homeless LGBT youth in the United States with the goal of generating responses on local and national levels from government funders, foundations, and the LGBT community.