So avenues is [COUGH] non-profit here in the twin cities, that has several housing programs for young people who are experiencing homelessness. So we have two site-based programs, so actual buildings. One in North Minneapolis, one in Brooklyn Park. The North Minneapolis house has 20 beds, Brooklyn Park has 12. And then we have some community based programs, programs being examples of those. So the young people that come to avenues are between the ages of 16 and 24 depending on which program they are looking at. But we provide case management and support services. For youth and- >> Try to find stable housing. >> There you go. >> And that would be systems of oppression. >> That avenue is in our state based psyche, seeing people are there, they get three meals a day. They can stay there as long as they're working on their goals and working with case managers. The youth counsellors. And those [INAUDIBLE] programs are entirely different. We recruit, screen, train and support people in our communities who have an extra bedroom and then share their resources. With the young queer people who are experiencing homelessness. And like Kelly said that the [INAUDIBLE] program is short term. And GLBT hosted program is more long term. So the average stay of a young person in the GLBT host program is about a year. It could be more. It could be less, but. So community-based grassroots outside of the city. [LAUGH] >> Right off the bat, the unfortunate issue is that there are a great deal of people who are not >> I shouldn't say trend but seemed to not be able, for reason or another, to really treat LGBTQ people the same as everyone else. So when a lot of folks are experiencing homelessness already, it's huge. The added pressure of possibly them stigmatized within any system approach Makes it much more difficult for you to access services. So as a gay or lesbian or bisexual youth or transgender youth or gender non-conforming youth, you have a much more difficult time finding sustainable housing, being hired and not being harassed in that work place. Not being fired. Replace for your identification and orientation and you also have a greater risk of violence being homeless on the street. A lot of people seek you out to assault you. And so it's really necessary for the safety of the youth for them to have specific services. >> And one of the things that we found too here in the Twin Cities is that [COUGH] We haven't created housing programs that are, agencies that work specifically with GLBT young people who are homeless. We've more gone the route of creating GLBT specific programs within homeless youth organizations. >> Yep. >> So that has worked fairly well in our communities having those competent queer and trans specific programs within larger homeless youth orgs as opposed to creating an entirely new organization that is queer and trans specific and has housing. >> Cultural competency to work with populations that we're talking about within organizations >> [INAUDIBLE] like the competency of staff and administration, seems to be lacking in terms of like training. And [COUGH] treating young folks as human beings first and foremost. Not just somebody who's different or not capable, or Mm-hm. >> But and the added component, I think, is that the majority of queer and transic people who do experience homelessness for a longer period of time are youth of color. So the competency around certainly around queer trans issues, but most of our private nonprofits are led by Really well intentioned white folks and that hasn't really done much when it comes to racial justice issues and really, really looking at those bigger systems of oppression. So I think we have not That's an ongoing conversation and I think we have not figured out how to really dismantle the operates here in the twin cities and in Minnesota when it comes to social services. >> Yeah. >> For example, we've been youth workers. For a long time, and we see what we've seen, we've seen white youth who've experienced homelessness get funnelled into chemical dependency and mental health systems. >> Yeah. >> And we've seen youth of color, particularly African American youth get funnelled into the >> Given no justice system, and then later on the criminal justice system. So that has a huge impact and ability to find housing and employment later on. So that cycle is obviously complicated and. Yeah and my liberalism isn't going to cut it. Well intentioned white people providing services isn't going to cut it. So how to we truly look at how, not just how we live our lives, but how we work within our organizations or organizations are graded? Yeah. >> To create great policies around intention matching impact. Well I think a great deal of people's intentions are positive, and especially with social services world. But often times due to, can I say a cultural competency not being there, there are different programs that aren't really made for the people who are expected to utilize the. The systems that are in place in those programs aren't very easily accessible for folks who are not socialized in races European American society. And for them not, I think a lot of folks who reached out to different communities of color have a positive tension but the impact. That they have and the way they interact with people, the way they communicate with people. The kinds of services that are available, are not. And the requirements around those services have a lot of racist elements. And so the impact is hard fall, sometimes, opposed to positive. Where as if there's a great deal of mindfulness being used >> Lives, and best practices, and people are working together with other agencies. Then you can raise a degree of cultural competence with training and staffing that really has people feeling a positive impact that matches the intention that someone's come forward with. So you have to have the research and you have to have the collaboration.
