Click here to read the GLBT Host Home brochure              Click here for August Informational Sessions

GLBT Host Home Program

The GLBT Host Home Program is a community-based response to GLBT youth homelessness, where volunteers open their homes to young gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people ages 16 through 21 who are experiencing homelessness or who are precariously housed (youth ages 16-17 are involved with permission from their family or guardians). While living in the host homes, youth have an opportunity to work on their goals without having to worry about food and shelter. Youth receive case management throughout their stay and both youth and hosts receive support as they navigate the challenges of building healthy and nurturing relationships while sharing a home. To make a long story short, we're building community.

The concept of the GLBT Host Home Program is very simple. The goal is to recruit, screen and train adult volunteers from the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and allied communities who open up their homes and literally "host" a young person. This means providing transitional living support for a period of up to 2 years. Though the concept is simple, the day-to-day reality of sharing space and creating connection is far from easy and requires a lot of work, both of the youth and the hosts. For many, this has been a life-changing experience.

 

Program

The GLBT Host Home Program was developed our of a 1996 Wilder Research feasibility study that looked at the problem of GLBT homelessness in the Twin Cities. This community-wide effort involved youth and volunteers from various agencies and faith-based organizations as well as community members invested in social justice. It resulted in a call to create the GLBT Host Home Program. From 1997-2004, the program was housed at YouthLink. It became a program of Avenues for Homeless Youth in the beginning of 2007. The first year's focus was on re-educating the community about the program, introducing its new host organization, and securing our first 10 host homes. Since then, we have continues our efforts in recruiting more hosts and maintaining approximately 20 host homes in our program at any given time, with no more than 10 youth in host homes at any given time.

The GLBT Host Home Program has an Advisory Council made of community members who help recruit, screen, and train new hosts, organize activities, educate our communities on issues related to queer youth homelessness, and build connections with others who are working on issues related to economic and racial justice within our queer communities. We are continually present at various conferences, community organizing meetings, advocacy efforts, and other movement building activities. We share our materials, experiences and history with anyone who is interested and we are proud to say that we are helping other communities create host home programs as well, GL BT specific or not. Our commitment is to share our skills and resources with others so that they can take what they want and change that to fit their own communities. In a nutshell, we hope to see many more small, community specific, and grass-roots solutions to homelessness.

This program exists because of community involvement and ownership: hosts step forward from the GLBT and allied communities, case managers from various organizations and programs refer youth and continue to provide case management while a youth is in a host home, community members help train host applicants, advisory council members help maintain the program, funders from within the community share their resources to keep the program alive (the program has not sought or received government funding), and, last but not least, youth come forward wanting to give this community building idea a try!

 

Seeking Community

Tuesday, August 17, 6 - 8pm

@Midtown YWCA

2121 East Lake Street

Minneapolis, MN 55401

www.ywca-minneapolis.org

or

Thursday, August 19, 6 - 8pm

@Common Roots Cafe

2558 Lyndale Avenue South

Minneapolis, MN 55405

www.commonrootscafe.com

One of the ways that the Twin Cities' community is addressing this problem is through the GLBT Host Home Program of Avenues for Homeless Youth., which offers a transformative and community-based approach to providing homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth with safe homes. As volunteers of the program, adults open their homes and their hearts to young people who need and are looking for a healthy and nurturing connection.

Come learn about the history of the GLBT Host Home Program and about the application and screening process for potential volunteers. You will also have an opportunity to hear from hosts who shared their homes with youth. See you there!

Questions? Call Raquel (Rocki) at Avenues for Homeless Youth: 612-522-1690, ext 110.

 

Thank You Corner

 

As is always the case, the GLBT Host Home Program would not exist without its hosts and youth - our gratitude to them!