Thanks to the generosity of countless people and organizations, unhoused LGBTQ+ youth in New York City will have another place to go with the opening of a new shelter.
On October 30, the Ali Forney Center officially cut the ribbon for Casa Cecilia, named after the late transgender activist Cecilia Gentili. The Harlem shelter does more than just provide housing for gay youth between the ages of 21 and 24.
“We serve young people who come to us from street homelessness, and Casa Cecilia will be their first step out of homelessness. This is a great opportunity for them to get their feet wet, sleep in a bed for three to six months, and really gain the life skills they need to live independently,” said Zachary Cohen, associate executive director of development. defender.
Ali Forney Center staff and guests cut the ribbon for the opening of Casa Cecilia, an LGBTQ+ homeless shelter.
Photo credit: Lexi Webster
The organization was founded in 2002 and named after a homeless gender non-conforming youth who died without housing. The company closed its Casa Cecilia building last June and has spent the past year finalizing requirements for its opening. The shelter will be the first property wholly owned by AFC. AFC is working on converting rental units into ownership units, with a focus on “finding ways to become more self-reliant,” said Alexander Roque, chairman and executive director.
For the organization to take possession of the Casa Cecilia building required “a cosmic organizing of just goodwill,” Roque said. It was years in the making. Million Dollar Listing officials showed them the location, and the owners agreed to a special lease-to-owner deal, after which AFC leased the building for five years until it could be converted into a shelter.
But the “goodwill” didn’t stop there, Cohen said, as the community rallied support for the shelter through multiple separate fundraisers. Architectural Digest’s Sam Cochran led an effort to raise more than $1 million from the design industry, inviting businesses to donate new closets, paint, lighting, and finishes to ensure the space is “actually welcoming and ready for young people.”
The annual drag show benefit concert was then held in October, raising over $300,000. The Halloween-themed show featured Jay Armstrong Johnson and his friends dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters. hocus pocus Performing “I Put a Spell on You” with special guest appearance by Academy Award winner and Broadway star Ariana DeBose rupaul’s drag race Winner Jinx Monsoon drag race Alum Laguna Blue.
The mantle of Casa Cecilia LGBTQ+ Youth Homeless Shelter is decorated with a monument to Cecilia Gentili.
Provided by Ali Forney Center
With Casa Cecilia officially opening, Roque said the shelter will “add an additional 20 beds to those available in New York City” for homeless LGBTQ+ youth. AFC’s waiting list currently stands at approximately 300 people.
According to , more than a quarter (28%) of LGBTQ+ youth experience homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives. trevor project. Transgender and nonbinary youth are even more likely to be homeless, with 38 percent of transgender girls and women, 39 percent of trans boys and men, and 35 percent of nonbinary youth reporting housing instability, compared to 23 percent of cisgender LGBQ youth.
A.F.C. report Each year, the organization provides services and resources, including more than 70,000 meals, to more than 20,000 at-risk and homeless LGBTQ+ youth. Of the customers, 80% were evicted from their homes, 60% were black and 30% were Latino.
The walls of the staircase inside Casa Cecilia are decorated with art of transgender icons.
Photo credit: Lexi Webster
The young people AFC and Casa Cecilia serve are the same young people the activist dedicated her life to protecting before her tragic death last February. Roque, who was a close friend of Gentili’s, said naming the shelter after her was a way to honor her dream of creating “a place where everyone has a space where they can be free, safe and loved.”
“It’s very important for us to honor, celebrate and identify leaders in our movements and history, and Cecilia Gentili represented perhaps the most courageous and passionate fight for transgender rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights and human rights in our country,” Roque says. “For us, naming this property after her honors what she lived and believed.”
Cohen said the shelter not only continues Gentili’s work, but also proves that communities can come together and nonprofits can “stand on their own feet” in these times.
“Our approach to this is innovative, and for funding structures and LGBT organizations, this is an example of how we can become more independent and self-sufficient, and how we can encourage others to think the same way,” Cohen says.
Learn more about the Ali Forney Center and donate. aliforneycenter.org.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
