| Carl Siciliano |
Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, NYC's largest LGBT homeless youth shelter, released a statement this morning:
“Mayor Bloomberg's plan to throw 160
homeless children out of their shelter beds and into the streets is
cruel, reckless and contemptible. These cuts create an even bigger
crisis for the LGBT teens who are thrown out of their homes and forced
to endure homelessness on the streets of our city. The LGBT community
needs and demands political leaders who will protect our children.
Instead, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed eliminating more than half of
their shelter beds. The Ali Forney Center, and all those who work with
and care about LGBT homeless youth, will not be silent in the face of
this decision, which offends us as a community and needlessly puts our
young people in harm's way.”
Today’s cuts come in spite of the fact that
the need for youth shelter beds continues to grow; in 2011 alone, the
waiting list for AFC’s 77 shelter beds grew to 199 youths - an increase
of 40 percent over the prior year. In total, the city only funds 250
shelter beds, for a population of 4,000 homeless youth. In response to
this crisis, the Ali Forney Center and a number of allied LGBT
organizations have launched the Campaign for Youth Shelter. This
initiative calls on New York City and State to back an additional $3
million in annual funding, set aside to create 100 new shelter beds
every year. The Campaign today calls for the city to raise its Runaway
and Homeless Youth Services budget from the just-announced $5 million to
$13.5 million, both revoking today’s cuts and including the city’s half
of the annual $3 million.
(source)
(source)
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