DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Dallas bond Proposition J may, in part, fund an emergency shelter for homeless LGBT youth.
A coalition of agencies including Resource Center, Cathedral of Hope, Promise House and Outlast Youth are talking with city officials about using part of the $20 million proposed in Prop J to fund a facility modeled after the Ali Forney Center in New York and a similar facility in San Antonio.
The Rev. Neil Cazares-Thomas said Dallas Hope Charities, a new non-profit arm of Cathedral of Hope, has already sent a team for a site visit to New York at the Ali Forney Center to learn about its operation, management and history.
That facility began with about 6 beds and operates from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. for youth 18-to-24 years old.
Cazares-Thomas said any collaboration between the organizations is preliminary, and plans to apply for the bond money are premature. Although voting on the bond propositions is currently taking place, concrete plans for the money will emerge over the next few years before the bonds are actually issued, should the proposition pass.
Promise House has decades of experience running youth shelters. Earlier this year, the agency opened a long-term LGBT youth house for four residents that was full the day it opened. That organization could provide management of the facility.
Resource Center has experience in the area with its Youth First programs and also offers counseling.
Outlast Youth has created resource rooms in Dallas schools to provide food, clothing and other necessities to homeless students.
Cathedral of Hope has provided a number of services for homeless people for years including a breakfast program.
Cazares-Thomas said 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT, and he understands that churches are the major cause of LGBT youth homelessness. He said he hopes this project is underway even before bond money is available, but considering the percentage of homeless youth who are LGBT, he believes $3 million to $5 million should go toward this project.
He said he’d like Cathedral of Hope and the LGBT community to be part of the solution.