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As we mark the unofficial end of summer with the passing of Labor Day, the Center would like to pick you up with a Front and Center issue about what's been happening here and what we have to look forward to this fall. To kick things off, we bring you first-hand accounts of the amazing impact of the Center's week-long LGBT Youth Summer Camp. We also introduce you to Frank, who shares his emotional story about why he will participate in Cycle for the Cause, the 18th Annual Northeast AIDS Ride. This fully-supported, three day, approximately 275-mile bike ride from Boston to NYC raises crucial funds for the Center's HIV/AIDS-related programs and services. Speaking of vital programs made possible by our fantastic supporters, the Center is thrilled to share that our LGBT Foster Care Project has received extremely generous funding that will allow the project to expand and continue over the next three years.

If you like what you read, please support the Center by clicking here – your gift helps us bring many important services to the LGBT community!

Welcome Back LGBT Summer Campers


In late August, 67 young people returned to the Center after the Youth Enrichment Services' (YES) week-long LGBT Youth Summer Community Camp. This residential camp is designed to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people with the support, knowledge and skills they need to take charge of their own health and well-being. On behalf of all of us here at the Center, we thank those who generously donated to make Camp an exceptional experience for our youth. But why take our word for it? The campers say it best!

Josué, who just spent his last year at camp:

"Camp was an amazing experience and I can't believe it's actually over. I met the most wonderful people there and found the best of friends who will be by my side forever. Nobody can go back and create a new beginning, but anyone can start fresh today and make a new ending. Sometimes it's the smallest decisions, like going to camp, that can change your life forever."

Sarah, fellow YES Summer Camper:

"I thought camp changed my life last year…but it seems to have done it once again this year! I learned things about myself, things I need to work on and things I've grown to love even more. This year helped me to realize my leadership abilities and to see how I can affect the world around me. "

To sum it all up, let's hear what Dillon has to say:

"Camp was an opportunity for me to feel like I'm part of the bigger picture. The way that everyone supports each other fosters so much growth, ultimately building everlasting bonds. Before, that seemed like a distant dream. Camp is where my dream came true."

For more information about YES programming and summer camp, click here.

Center Cyclist Rider Tells Us Why He Rides



In just a few short weeks, Frank McCrea will begin his three-day journey from Boston to New York City in the Center's Cycle for the Cause bike ride to raise funds for our HIV/AIDS-related programs and services. His story about why he makes the 275-mile trip was so moving that we had to share it with you.

“The reason that I ride starts with my father, who was a good man and a good soldier. He was a Vietnam War veteran who returned from war addicted to heroin. My father was one of the first people to die of AIDS in the early 80s. Back then, people were mystified by the disease; there was nothing doctors could do to help him. As a child, it was agonizing to watch him slip away, feeling powerless because there was nothing I could do either.”

Your support inspires Frank to keep riding! If you are moved by his story, click here to donate and propel him further along on Cycle for the Cause.

“After my father passed away I found the Center. It was my safe haven as a young man confused about my sexuality. As I grew older I began to get caught up in heavy drinking and recreational drug use. What started as fun turned my life inside out. The Center’s recovery groups and one-on-one counseling changed me. I will be forever indebted to the Center for giving me my life back. They have given me the strength and knowledge to recover from my addictions. I have the Center to thank for all this, as I do not know what my life would be like today had I not walked through their doors.
Now that I am strong in my recovery, I want to give back what was given to me. So today, for my dad and my friends who passed away from AIDS and for future generations that may contract this disease, there is something I can do - ride in Cycle for the Cause! Every mile that I ride is in honor of the people I have known and loved that lived and struggled with HIV and AIDS.”

Want to inspire Frank to keep putting those miles behind him? Support Frank on his Cycle for the Cause journey today!

LGBTQ Foster Care Project Funded for Three Years



The Center is thrilled to announce that it has received a generous grant in the amount of $690,000 to continue and expand Center Families' transformational Foster Care Project (FCP) over the next three years.

The FCP works to address the serious challenges that LGBTQ youth in New York City face in being placed with LGBTQ-affirming foster care homes. Lack of access to safe and affirming homes may lead to LGBTQ youth becoming homeless or living in painful silence regarding their sexual orientation or gender identity. Grants like this are vital in allowing the Center to provide innovative, quality programming to the LGBT community.

“This funding has breathed new life into the Center’s Foster Care Project, and it dramatically increases our capabilities,” said FCP Coordinator Tracey Little, MSW. “For years we have worked to implement policies of non-discrimination and inclusion with individual agencies, but now we can work on a larger scale with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to provide support and increased trainings for potential foster parents and agency staff. The Center is so grateful that we are able to continue these efforts to create the professional, safe, LGBT-affirming environment that all of these kids deserve.”

One key element of the project is supporting ACS with the means to achieve its goal to better serve LGBTQ youth and families. The funding enables ACS to work on a broad, systemic level and ensure that case workers, counselors, educational liaisons and all other staff are appropriately trained on issues facing LGBTQ youth in foster care. The FCP also aims to increase the number of LGBTQ-affirming homes overall by providing training for prospective foster parents in the LGBTQ community, and working to reduce stigmas and stereotypes regarding LGBTQ foster parents and children within agencies. To achieve these goals, the FCP collaborates with youth interns who identify as LGBTQ and have had experience with the foster care system. These interns serve as advocates and educational speakers for foster care agencies, relating their personal stories and giving a face to underserved LGBTQ youth in foster care.

Bringing the FCP full-circle, the Center will provide comprehensive parent trainings facilitated by You Gotta Believe!, an organization that works to find adoptive parents for young adults, teens and pre-teens before they age out of the foster care system and run the extremely high risk of becoming homeless. Trainings present the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP), the New York State approved curriculum for the 10 classes/30 hours of training required to become a licensed foster/adoptive parent. The FCP provides free space, technical assistance and volunteer stipends to You Gotta Believe! to conduct MAPP trainings onsite at the Center.

For more information on the Center’s Foster Care Project, please visit www.gaycenter.org/families/fostercareproject.



Sincerely,

Glennda Testone
Executive Director