LGBTQ Youth Homelessness, Eva Fury, MASD'15 by MICA Center for Social Design

“... youth may be the single age group most at risk of becoming homeless &, yet, this group is the least studied...” - Robertson & Toro (1999)1

“ A lot of people don’t think a problem with homeless youth exists.” - Ciera Dunlap (2015)2

Social Design Thesis 2015 Eva Fury 4

LGBTQ YOUTH HOMELESSNESS EVA FURY Masters of Art in Social Design Thesis Center for Social Design Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, Maryland 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

6 8 12 20 30 36 46 50

Acknowledgments

Preface

About Me About Social Design

Introduction

Problem Definition Evidence Connection

Research

Understanding the Problem Community Engagement

Theory of Change Root Causes Levels of Analysis Theories of Change

Action

Project execution Next Steps

Glossary

End Notes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Collective Thank you to Youth Empowered Society, The Center for Social Design, Baltimore Racial Justice Action, the members of the LGBTQ Youth Prom Committee, & the participants of the LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Group Brainstorm sessions for your support & contributions.

Individual Special thanks to Emily Ianacone, Leah Fury, Stephen Gussin, Nancy Lawton, Steve Fury, Jonathan Erwin, Vincent Purcell, Maia Gibbons, Michael Franklin, Myra Margolin, & Lee Davis for all your encouragement, love, friendship, & enthusiasm.

PREFACE ABOUT ME

FURY, EVA L 05/21/1988 queer white

Seattle, WA ENFJ coach

ultimate frisbee player creative problem solver chocolate chip cookie wizard casual dresser capture the flag fanatic graduate degree candidate

Before I found social design I had five part time jobs. I was a legal assistant, a freelance graphic designer, a youth ultimate frisbee coach, a practicing visual artist, & a social justice advocate. Only one of these positions brought home a consistent paycheck. For years I struggled to figure out how to practically combine my love of visual communication with my passion for equity & positive social change. Fine art always felt isolating & devoid of community, while social service & advocacy didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow me to use my unique design synthesis skills. Moreover, my name is Eva Fury, so people often told me that I was destined to become a superhero. I needed to find my calling & do my part to help save the world. Then I found the masters in social design graduate program at MICA. To me, the concept of social design combines key elements of social justice work & my personal super powers into one shiny new field. My definition of social design harnesses the strengths of systems, strategy, teamwork, empowerment, problem solving, & visual & spatial creativity to lift up the voices, solutions, & work offered by folks most impacted by critical social issues. In my study of social design & practice of social justice, I recognized a pattern within critical moments at the center of conflict or conversation. That moment represents a second where people have the opportunity to learn something new, shift their worldview, & understand others more fully. However, we often elect to miss that opportune moment to engage in discomfort & challenge. Social design offers new frameworks to reach common ground among people who think differently & have diverse lived experiences. I want to push people to bravely enter challenging conversations & begin remaking our systems with shared definitions. As a social designer, I build capacity for positive social change through greater understanding of people, culture, & systems. I have found my place.

ABOUT SOCIAL DESIGN & JUSTICE Facilitation is at the core of social design. Facilitation can mean guiding a workshop or conversation, managing a project or initiative, or creating the environment for others to meet each other & collaboratively create change. The role of a social designer is first & foremost capacity building for positive social change. We are not here to save anyone or definitively solve problems. In social design we often talk about social & behavioral change. For our work to build positive social & behavioral change, we must center the voices of those most impacted by the social problems we engage & address. Ideally, our work will be lead by those most impacted by these social problems. The human-centered design practice, listening to community to inspire problem solving, is not enough to uplift the voices of oppressed groups. True equity & equality requires a deeper understanding of systems, authentic trust, & true collaborative work. Social designers must recognize that we work with communities & not for them. Empowerment is not something one person does for another. Social designers can work to make the space for empowerment to happen, but we are not creative brilliance wrapped up as design knights, saviors, or heroes. Social designers must challenge individually held personal & cultural assumptions, understandings, & values because no one is a blank slate. The process of social design requires that we constantly push ourselves to understand our biases, positions, & privileges, & how they interact with those held by our partners. For social design to act as a positive force in the world it must be rooted in social justice. The practice of social justice aims to achieve the equitable distribution of wealth, power, opportunities, & privileges amongst all people. Social design at its best helps to achieve these goals. At its worst, social design perpetuates inequalities & oppressive systems that maintain the cultural & systemic status quo of power & privilege. As social designers we must realize that our fresh eyes & unique abilities also come with innate bias & privileges that can create barriers to authentic collaboration with stakeholders with opposing opinions, diverse cultures, & different lived experiences. We must fight to understand our own place in every project & leverage our skills, power, & privilege for positive social change as identified by the whole community.

Over the past 8 months I observed the following guiding principals to hold social justice at the core of my social design practice: 1. Constantly work to understand your personal, institutional, & cultural privilege, bias, & knowledge. Empathy is a core principal of social design, but the term has been broken by overuse & misuse. Bring back the true meaning of empathy by understanding yourself & how you exist in society before attempting to understand others & how they experience society. 2. Go where you are invited & welcomed back to. You do not decide where you are needed. Only participate if & when you are requested to engage. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to question who has the power to invite your participation. Who has the power to decide if & when change can happen? 3. Practice allyship, but remember that ally is a verb. You are not an ally until someone names you as one. Calling yourself an ally is not the same as practicing support & advocacy for marginalized & oppressed people. 4. Shut up & listen. Observe, think, & ask questions before drawing conclusions, making decisions, & taking action. 5. Agree on shared definitions, language, & methods with your partners to ensure process & goal alignment. You cannot reach common ground if you are hiking on different trails. 6. Be open, honest, & transparent with all stakeholders. Recognize power inequity & how risk effects different partners. 7. Admit that you do not know what you do not know & seek to know more. 8. Do no harm is not a sufficient mantra for social design. Do no harm implies making no positive difference in the status quo for marginalized people. If your work simply does no harm, but you benefit from it personally, then you have taken advantage of your community partners. 9. Finally, remember that learning & change only come out of discomfort. If you are suspicious, uncomfortable, or in disagreement with an idea or worldview ask yourself where that conflict stems from â&#x20AC;&#x201C; does it stem from a place of panic or fear? Does it contradict objective fact? Does it run counter to personal beliefs or morals? Is there danger or shifting perspective in discomfort? If everything is running smoothly, then something is wrong.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Design should actively pursue outcomes that support the growth & access of civil rights. This level of systems shifting outcomes take time, but we need to move forward with intention, so that design in the public interest pushes equity & is active & relevant to the larger social justice movement.â&#x20AC;? - Theresa Hwang, Designing for Equity: Using a Civil Rights Framework3

INTRODUCTION PROBLEM DEFINITION Think about a young person in your life, someone between the ages of 14 & 26, someone who you love & admire. What are the words you might use to describe that young person? Would you say they are imaginative, bright, tough, expressive, resilient, original? US American culture rightfully celebrates youth for their creativity, resourcefulness, bravery, & flexibility. However, these precise qualities are the same assets that make young people experiencing homelessness difficult to identify & serve. The growing problem of youth homelessness is still invisible to many because young people are excellent at hide-&-seek. Moreover, many are unaware that nationally 40% of young people experiencing homelessness identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). In contrast only 5-10% of the general population, of any housing status, identify as LGBTQ4. Clearly a social problem exists in this disproportionate number of queer youth experiencing life on the street. My thesis work aims to understand & assist the 40% of young people experiencing homelessness that identify as LGBTQ in the USA & in Baltimore.

NATIONALLY

5 to

of the general population identify as LGBTQ

10%

while

40%

of YOUTH EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS identify as

LGBTQ4

SHARED DEFINITIONS LESBIAN & GAY

Women who love women & Men who love men

BISEXUAL lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, & queer or questioning

People who love both men & women

TRANSGENDER

Folks whose gender identity does not align with the biological sex they were assigned at birth

QUEER or QUESTIONING

People who feel that their identity lands outside of societal norms of gender identity &/or sexual orientation. folks between the ages of 14 - 26 living without parents or guardians5

YOUTH or YOUNG PEOPLE

Folks 14 & 26 years old living without parents or guardians above the age of 26. Baltimore city’s youth curfew law indicates different requirements for children younger than 14 years old & young people 14 years old & up7. The field of neuroscience determined that late stage adolescent brain development continues into the early twenties8. Young people still mature in terms of self image, judgment, & emotion up until they are 25 years old rendering the institution that denotes 18 years old as the mark of adulthood arbitrary.

the experience of lacking a fixed, regular, & adequate nighttime residence6

Youth Empowered Society, Baltimore’s only drop-in center for young people experiencing homelessness defines youth as people between 14 & 26 years old5. They extend the definition of young people one year for youth navigating the difficult process of becoming independent adults. The term young people is used to honor youth’s lived experience. When a person lives through extreme hardship & must rise to a level of responsibility for themself beyond what is expected of them terms like children & teenagers become disrespectful & insufficient to describe the true lives of young people.

HOMELESSNESS

The state of being when a person lacks a fixed, regular, & adequate nighttime residence. Homelessness is not an identity. It does not define a person. Homelessness is a condition people experience as a living situation. The PIT count definition of homelessness “only includes homeless people who are sleeping in transitional housing programs, emergency shelters or in places unfit for human habitation,” which means it does not count a significant number of people experiencing homelessness.

UNDERSTANDING GENDER & SEXUALITY9 The LGBTQ acronym & community lump a huge range of people with different identities into the same group. Despite similar & relatable encounters with discrimination & oppression, the experiences of individuals within this group vary so significantly that many feel the grouping is inappropriate. The difference between sexual orientation & gender identity help to explain why grouping LGBTQ (& more) together contribute to cultural misconceptions of non-herteronormative & non-gender binary individuals. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, & asexual are sexual orientations. Transgender, gender-queer, & gender non-conforming are gender identities.

Gender Identity

A personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psychological understanding of their own gender

Gender Expression

How gender is communicated outwardly through dress, voice, behavior, & mannerism

Sexual Orientation

Inner feelings of who one is attracted to or oriented to sexually &/or emotionally

EVIDENCE OF THE PROBLEM

USA GENERAL POPULATION

YOUTH EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS

5 to

40%

(ANY HOUSING STATUS)

10%

IDENTIFY AS LGBTQ4

IN MARYLAND

IN 2013

47,000 to 95,000

at least 2,030

youth identify as LGBTQ10

Baltimore city students experienced homelessness11

Maryland schools were

NATIONALLY

declared unsafe

homeless LGBTQ youth

for LGBTQ students by the GLSEN National School Report12

feel SAFER on the STREET than in traditional social services13

HUD mandates at biannual PIT count to inform national funding allocation. The PIT count definition of homelessness is limiting &, therefore, excludes a large portion of the homeless population including youth. Young people have different safety needs & survival skills than adults11. They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t access the same services & they employ different defense mechanisms. 2013 was the first time the Baltimore PIT count took the initiative to count young people as a unique subpopulation of people experiencing homelessness11. The data & statistics on youth homelessness are not comprehensive or reliable because youth have only recently been recognized as a group that requires specialized counting methodologies & support services. Moreover, youth are difficult to count because of their unique safety concerns & community networks. They also donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often see themselves as experiencing homelessness. LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness have even more specialized survival tactics & safety concerns because of widespread discrimination in social services14. Urban centers across the country have begun to determine how the 40% statistic manifests in local contexts. However, Baltimore city services have historically not had enough sustainable funding or focused effort to know what percent of Baltimore city homeless youth identify as LGBTQ.

THE PROBLEM IN BALTIMORE Baltimore Youth Homelessness

Baltimore LGBTQ Community

Baltimore’s has one temporary shelter, Loving Arms, for youth ages 13 -24 years old. Loving Arms has 10 beds & 8 cots for youth. Many young people over the age of 18 still have to use the adult shelter system to access emergency & temporary beds2.

There are currently no consistent & sustainable support, affinity, or counseling groups, outside of school based GSAs, available for all LGBTQ identified young people. The majority of LGBTQ community resources are centrally located in Baltimore & the city transportation system is unreliable making services difficult to access.

Baltimore also has only one drop-in center, Youth Empowered Society, for youth 14 - 26 years old. Four days a week, YES offers case work, legal aid, counseling services, workshops, workforce development, meals, hygiene products, & community5. The Baltimore City year long youth curfew regulates evening access to services & transportation for children & young people up to 18 years old. The Baltimore Homeless Youth Initiative (BHYI) is the city’s cross-discipline youth homelessness coalition. BHYI works to create a safe & reliable support system for all youth experiencing homelessness. BHYI has given special attention to the LGBTQ homeless population in the past, but the coalition has to measure priorities & specialized initiatives tend to get overrun by larger strategies15. Youth REACH is a 2014 Maryland state initiative with a five year proposal to build new counting methodologies & create a homeless count demonstration specific to youth16.

The Youth Equality Alliance (YEA) is a “working group of Maryland advocates from various services providers, nonprofit organizations, & government agencies that seeks to identify policy, regulatory, & best-practice solutions to problems faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, & queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth.” YEA initially chose schools, foster care, & the juvenile justice system as critical areas of focus17. Recently, YEA has agreed to build in an addendum to specifically address LGBTQ youth homelessness. There are a variety of incredible LGBTQ organizations in Baltimore organizing new youth services, groups, & activities. The city is experiencing a moment of reorganization & resurgence of queer pride and community building.

Baltimore LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Baltimore has no LGBTQ specific homelessness services. However, there are a few projects in the works that may emerge to support LGBTQ youth homelessness precisely, including a shelter bed designation policy & a proposed temporary shelter exclusively for LGBTQ identified young people. The lack of LGBTQ youth homelessness specific services hides the problem itself while also requiring various organizations to step in & make up for missing services.

CONNECTION TO THE PROBLEM Follow your passion & use past successes to guide your path.

I also identify as queer.

I have a background in youth empowerment through teaching, mentoring, & coaching ultimate frisbee to Seattle area middle & high school students. When I came to Baltimore I decided to go with my strengths & locate my thesis work with young people.

When I first learned about queerness, queer in terms of both gender & sexual identity, I felt I finally found a pair of shoes that fit - I had been cramming my feet into the wrong size my whole life.

I had also just completed a six month advocacy & funding project with the Social Justice Fund Northwest focused on gender justice. The conversations & process working with LGBTQ justice, reproductive justice, & family security were all fresh in my mind when I arrived in Baltimore.

Growing up, learning who you are, finding your path, & building community is a process. Figuring out how you identify as a person in body & mind is a practice. Everyone deserves childhood, the ability to grow up with basic human needs like food, shelter, safety as well as love, community, and joy - without the burden of responsibility. Digging deeper into questions of how & why young people, especially LGBTQ, minority, and low generational wealth youth, become homeless reveals a pattern in widespread loss of childhood.

The fact that nationally 40% of youth experiencing homeless identify as LGBTQ connected these two areas of expertise & lead me to explore youth homelessness. Then I found YES & began volunteering immediately.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights18 speaks to this point: For my thesis I set out to find a way to alleviate some discomfort felt by queer youth in Baltimore. My goal was to push for a more welcoming, less discriminatory atmosphere across services in the short term & for more just & socially conscious institutions in the long run.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free & equal in dignity & rights. They are endowed with reason & conscience & should act towards one another in a spirit of kinship.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty & security of person.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion & expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference & to seek, receive & impart information & ideas through any media & regardless of frontiers.

Article 25.

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health & well-being of theirself & of their family, including food, clothing, housing & medical care & necessary social services, & the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control. 2. Motherhood & childhood are entitled to special care & assistance...

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Liberation is a joy at our collective efficacy & at surviving in a world that sometimes tries to kill us.â&#x20AC;? - Bobbie Harro, The Cycle of Liberation19

RESEARCH UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

I had to understand homelessness, youth, & LGBTQ justice separately & all at the same time to fully comprehend LGBTQ youth homelessness as a social problem. An encompassing approach was critical to my to problem definition because focusing in on any one area would skew any insights or ideas towards addressing only part of the whole issue. I conducted in-depth secondary research into all three distinct areas of LGBTQ youth homelessness as it pertains to contemporary Baltimore. I also looked into national precedents & success stories of work & service by & for LGBTQ youth. My secondary research process was essential to my intellectual & factual understanding of this problem, but I could only learn so much sitting in front of my computer. Community engagement was by far my most beneficial research method. My community engagement strategy required intensive trust building with young people experiencing homelessness as well as the people that serve & work with them. I also needed to understand how this puzzle manifested in Baltimore, & who were key players in the game. Finally, I wanted to take advantage of the grassroots learning community in Baltimore to ground my practice of social justice with local context & analysis.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES

1 2 3

Personal Immersion

Build trust with community partners & discover first hand knowledge.

Since October I have accumulated 30 hours & counting either volunteering at YES or providing in-kind design work for the Baltimore 2015 LGBTQ Youth Prom.

Design Ethnography

Volunteering at YES has been the most influential, exciting, & fulfilling aspect of my thesis work. Through workshops, community conversations, & hang-out time at YES I built a solid foundation of trust & meaningful relationships with both the youth & staff at YES. Every day I spent at YES I learned something new & took away observations & clues for my thesis work.

Interview & talk with experts in the field. Learn community wants & needs.

Social Justice Development Attend workshops & classes. Gain local perspective & strengthen analysis.

Choosing where to begin & how to engage was possibly the most challenging aspect of my work. YES is overflowing with potential for social design & collaboration. From space management to product development to skill building to organizational strategy to social enterprise opportunities. Observing & participating in conflict resolution at YES was one of the greatest insights & influences in my thesis work. Staff rarely have the time or resources to truly delve into the risky & challenging confrontations that conflict resolution requires. Instead conflict is quickly diffused through invocation of community ground rules. This atmosphere contributes to a loss in learning about different people & perspectives, & in some cases may leave queer youth feeling unresolved in the moment or rejected by peers. This insight was a catalyst that helped to identify my best leverage point for change within YES & pushed me in the right direction for an actionable concept. I started to think about learning opportunities in the center of conflict, ways to build greater understanding between people, taking the time to address these moments properly, & ways to build capacity for staff to aid more meaningful communication. My work with the LGBTQ Youth Prom committee contributed to solidifying & establishing community partnerships as well as new friendships. This project supported my commitment to the greater LGBTQ community & connected me to a wider network of LGBTQ advocates & organizations. I found that participation with prom helped me to gain credibility for my work at MICA.

workshop & training

HOURS

THREE

THREE speaker series events

THIRTY HOURS

of volunteer & in-kind design

coalition meetings

individual meetings

YOUTH EMPOWERED SOCIETY Improv Group On Mondays from 5-6pm I co-facilitate the YES Improv Group with a YES peer staff mentor. Improv has surfaced as an outlet for some of the YES youth to express themselves, build friendships, & have some much needed fun. We weave in mindfulness practice & discussions about acceptance & collaboration as key elements of successful & entertaining improv. I have not collected photos of youth at this time to preserve their confidentiality. On Monday April 27 we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to host improv group because of the events unfolding at Mondawmin Mall. When I arrived at about 5 pm most people were engaged with the news. The community atmosphere was tense & alter. Instead of participating in improv group youth were involved in conversations around police-community relationships & navigating their plans for life & shelter that evening. Violent police-civilian interactions had already surfaced as recurring material in improv group.

Thoughts left by YES on the kitchen wipe-board Monday April 27, 2015.

Nutrition Workshops & Community Conversations On Tuesdays from 5-6pm I guide community conversations & activities around nutrition at YES. We define nutrition broadly to include subjects that feed & nourish our bodies, hearts, & minds. Topics & activities we have engaged with include healthy eating habits, smoothie making, fitness & exercise, self care, self massage & soft tissue work, drawing, crafting, & mindfulness.

The nutrition workshop quickly strayed away from a workshop format & towards more of a guided conversation & questionanswer session. The young people at YES are interested in debating, learning new things, & sharing health related interests.

The wipe-board became a place for conversation notes & graphics collected in response to questions from previous sessions.

2015 LGBTQ YOUTH PROM 2015 Baltimore LGBTQ Youth Prom - Project Details

The 2015 LGBTQ Youth Prom will be held on May 15th at the Pier V Hotel in the Inner Harbor for LGBTQ identifying high school-aged youth (14 - 19 years old). This prom is 100% free for the young people attending & will have the trappings of a traditional high school prom (professional photography, dinner service, & dancing) with the addition of a resource fair & performances from local LGBTQ community members.

Partnership History

At the end of January I joined the team of advocates organizing the first LGBTQ state-wide youth prom as the event designer. With advisory from the committee I designed the prom theme & promotional materials. Print items we created include the official prom invitation, event night programs, fliers distributed to all Maryland high schools, & an advertisement for OUTloud Baltimore, the local LGBTQ newspaper.

Prom Committee Organizations

GLSEN Baltimore, STAR TRACK Adolescent Health Program at University of Maryland School of Medicine, SMILE Linkage to Care Program, Connect to Protect速, & Adolescent Trials Network Youth Community Advisory Board at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

invitations

Volunteers Kelly Reardon, Melanie Doucette, Shaine Henry, Shanna Hullaby, Natalie Avallone, David J Yost, Staciclare Flynn-Avallone, Donna Norris, LaVonne Doucette

Planning Committee Marines Terreforte - Connect 2 Protect Jabari Lyles - GLSEN Baltimore Tavon Vinson - Adolescent Trials Network Youth Community Advisory Board, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Michael Franklin - STAR TRACK Adolescent Health Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine Kurt Ragin - STAR TRACK Adolescent Health Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine Anastasia Pierron - SMILE Program, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Thank you!

High Schools In Attendance Aberdeen High School, Academy for Career and College Exploration, Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts, Annapolis High School, Arts & Ideas Sudbury, Arundel High School, Baltimore City College, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Baltimore School for the Arts, Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, Benjamin Franklin at Masonville Cove, Bryn Mawr School, Catonsville High School, Chesapeake high, Digital Harbor, Dulaney High School, Eastern Technical High School, Fall Church High School, Francis M. Wood High School, Franklin High School, Friendship Academy Of Engineering & Technology, George Washington Carver Center, Hatboro-Horsham High School, Hereford High School, Homeschool, Lansdowne High School, Loch Raven High School, Manchester Valley High School, Mergenthaler Vocational Technical, Highschool, Middletown High School, Milford Mill Academy, National Academy, Foundation, North county High School, Northeast, Overlea High School, Parkville High School, Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, Patterson High School, Perry Hall High School, Pikesville Middle School, Severna Park High School, Solebury School, South River High School, The Catholic High School of Baltimore, Towson High School, Western High School of Technology & Environmental Science, Western High School, Wilde Lake High School, & William Penn Senior High

LGBTQ PROM MAY 15, 2015

programs - front & back

facebook page

OUT loud advertisement

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES Design Ethnography

Social Justice Development

To flesh out the picture of LGBTQ youth homelessness in Baltimore I arranged roughly 27 meetings with experts in youth empowerment, LGBTQ justice, & homelessness. I wanted to understand all the players & figure out what work is already happening in Baltimore. My initial thought was that Baltimore needed more services to support homeless & LGBTQ youth, but what I found was that Baltimore has enough services, advocates, & providers. The existing services just need more support in funding, space, & capacity to better serve youth.

My background in social justice work has a west coast perspective, so it was important for me to get involved in the Baltimore justice scene & gain perspective on local analysis on race & gender. I spent over 24 hours in workshops & trainings which had a significant impact on the framing & outcome of my thesis work.

Each meeting I attended helped me hone ideas & served as opportunities to ground my work with the people who have dedicated their lives to this puzzle. I found that approaching these meetings with transparency, honesty, & humility yielded productive conversations & increasing support from potential community partners. Here was the theme of effective communication popping up in my work. In addition to my one-one-on meetings I attended 3 coalition gatherings & 3 speaker series events. I attended meetings held by Youth Equality Alliance, the Baltimore Homeless Youth Initiative, & Connect to Protect. These coalitions showed me what collaborative work is currently happening in Baltimore, how group meetings are run, & connected me to broader networks of providers & organizations. I was also able to learn about group work priorities & see where LGBTQ youth homelessness fit into the agenda. Showing up at speaker series events was critical to my community engagement process. My presence at repeat events helped me build trust with organizers & participants. I started to recognize faces & was able to follow up with some one-on-one meetings. Participating in community events showed that I am interested in spending time & working with the community, not just working for or around the community. The Baltimore Area Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau has an annual winter fundraising event that brings together homeless & formerly homeless speakers to share stories from their lives & build community with a greater audience. The Speak Fire! panel series brings together different figures within the LGBTQ community to discuss & share stories focused on various LGBTQ histories & themes. These events demonstrated the passionately & painfully human side of this issue. LGBTQ justice & homelessness are challenging journeys that cannot be comprehended through data & statistics alone. Numbers represent real people & they are the folks that need to be centered & listened to as we seek tangible ways of addressing LGBTQ youth homelessness.

I began by taking MICA’s Safe Zone trainings level 1 & 2. Safe zone training is designed to endow participants with the tools & understanding necessary to practice allyship for LGBTQ folks. I wanted to see how MICA presents queer issues to see how my work might fit into or work in tangent with this institution’s theory & practice. I was invited to be a Safe Zone facilitator after completing my training, & hosted Safe Zone 2 at MICA this spring. I am interested in pushing MICA’s Safe Zone training further to strengthen our community analysis & allyship process. I also participated in Baltimore Racial Justice Action network’s anti-racist Workshop for White People. This working group was invaluable to my racial justice analysis, to my emotional & intellectual health, & in directing the best course of action for my thesis. At the very beginning of the BRJA workshop we agreed on a set of group ground rules & were introduced to a compass-tool to help us locate our feelings & behaviors when challenged with new ideas & difficult concepts. Having the ground rules & compass gave the group a set of guidelines for engaging in hard conversations & a system to fall back on when we couldn’t communicate fully. We also spent considerable time looking at definitions of words pertaining to racism & forms of oppression. The process of agreeing on the meaning of complex words & intimidating concepts, pushing each other to be accurate in our language, & avoiding euphemisms illuminated the importance of shared language & root understanding. Again the pattern of accuracy & clarity in communication surfaced through my exploration of social justice in Baltimore. My experience with BRJA also lead me to the decision that I wouldn’t be working directly with young people to address the problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness. As a white person in Baltimore with limited time to execute a thesis project I felt that it would be inappropriate to ask this vulnerable, predominately Black, community to work with me for a brief period of time with no promises of sustainability or authentic commitment. Instead, I chose to zoom in on service providers & figure out a way to equip them with more tools & resources, like the ones I found through BRJA, to assist in conflict resolution & learning in support of LGBTQ youth.

INSPIRATION FOR ACTION Observations

Themes

- This problem is gaining momentum within advocacy groups in Baltimore but has yet to gain visibility from the general population.

- Homeless services staff, & providers in other areas, don’t always have the time & resources to appropriately address points of conflict between LGBTQ & heteronormative youth.

- People don’t feel that Baltimore has a cohesive LGBTQ community. - Declaring “this is a safe space” is the go-to tactic for dealing with LGBTQ discrimination - “I would like to see a big ass gay building.” - Jabari Lyles - People argue when they don’t have shared understanding of concepts, ideas, & words. Different lived experiences change perspectives & definitions.

- Everyone wants a brick & mortar non-government controlled space to create a youth-specific LGBTQ community center. - Language is important. Finding shared definitions is critical to building collaborative positive social change. Euphemisms obscure communication & contribute to systems of oppression. - Guidelines need to be understood & accepted by the community not just enforced. - Staff at homelessness services need support themselves.

- Staff at homelessness services are working well over capacity in highly stressful & hectic environments.

- Widespread lack of funding for homelessness & LGBTQ advocacy.

- Lack of reliable data on Baltimore LGBTQ youth homelessness resulting in lack of funding.

- Race & class are critical phenomenons that intersect with LGBTQ youth homelessness.

Insights

Opportunity

- BHYI & YEA are positioned to begin focusing back on LGBTQ youth homelessness & have a few coalition members in common.

- Greater visibility for LGBTQ youth homelessness is crucial to institutional & systemic levels success in Baltimore.

- There is a lot of love for Baltimore city youth. Many people & organizations want to learn how to personally act in solidarity with & identify ways of shifting systems to better support LGBTQ youth.

- Mass education to better understand gender identity & sexual orientation, particularly for folks working with in government systems & in positions of power - or with access to leverage power.

- Over worked, over capacity social workers, government employees, service providers, & advocates will make time to address this issue collaboratively.

- More collaborations & cohesion to build a strong unified LGBTQ community in Baltimore that can step up to support & advocate for their youngest constituents.

- The collective appreciates fresh dedicated eyes on the issue that do not have organizational affiliation that may bring a bias perspective to problem solving.

- Identifying, calling out, & creating more LGBTQ friendly, safe, &/or exclusive spaces throughout Baltimore.

- I will be working with professionals that serve youth, not working with youth directly, to develop my thesis

- Leveraging the YouthREACH demonstration count to take a focused look at the LGBTQ youth homelessness population. - Substantial policy wins through collaboration with YEA & BHYI to shift institutional practices & directives.

THEORY OF CHANGE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS20 An abbreviated rundown of the ways in which all aspects of society result in the disproportionate number of homeless LGBTQ youth in the USA.

1 2 3 4 5

Individual One personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding & view of their psychological & biological self

Relational A personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one-on-one relationships that create behaviors & expectations

Institutional Organizational, group, & community policy, laws, & norms

Cultural Popular collective understanding & agreement of behavioral norms, values, & expectations

Structural The holistic web of interlocking systems that dictate individual position in society & their access to opportunities in life (this includes historical context that accounts for social & economic generational wealth)

LGBTQ young people see & understand their own identity & body (singularly & in comparison to others). Individual identity is defined by internalized feelings, thoughts, & expectations of ones self. This is how youth begin to realize their gender identity & sexual orientation.

Misunderstanding, mistreatment, & discrimination against LGBTQ identified youth by family, peers, mentors, service providers, teachers, authority figures, & more. This is outside reaction & treatment based on how youth present their LGBTQ identity, often through gender expression.

Discriminatory policy & practices at institutions in all areas of youth life (school, medical care, employment, housing, social services, law enforcement, etc.). In many cases a lack of or weakness in policy results in marginalization of LGBTQ youth.

Popular culture, religions, & belief systems that dominate society insist on a status quo of the gender binary & heteronormativity & effectively exclude LGBTQ life from societal norms. Culture influences group behavior, group behavior influences relationship expectations, & relationship expectations have a profound impact on youth day to day life.

How the systems of racism, poverty, sexism, homophobia, & other oppressions overlap & invade all of US American culture in government, institutions, relationships, & perceptions of ourselves. Poverty & racism fundamentally contribute to the cycle of homelessness in the USA.

COMPLEX ROOT CAUSE DIAGRAM The Cycle of LGBTQ Youth Homelessness

SIMPLIFIED ROOT CAUSE DIAGRAM Disaggregating & dissecting LGBTQ youth homelessness is incredibly difficult. While family conflict is cited as the number one cause of youth homelessness there are numerous contributing factors to this social problem including ubiquitous discrimination against LGBTQ folks & systemic failure to adequately support queer youth. This systemic problem manifests across all areas of life in personal relationships, at institutions, & through popular culture & belief systems. The arrows in the following diagram represent youth movement from one experience or situation to another.

youth at home

school

medical care

youth on the street

youth in detention

youth in foster care

2 3 4

Inter-relational experiences causing youth movement from one institution to another Institutions of foster care & juvenile detention as the result & cause of homelessness Culture of discrimination, heteronormativity, & misinformation about LGBTQ life & needs

homeless services

TWO FRAMEWORKS FOR THEORY OF CHANGE21

1 VISION A system of social safety nets that effectively address LGBTQ youth homelessness.

One of the reasons LGBTQ youth homelessness happens is that many people, including parents & providers,

donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand LGBTQ youth needs or how social safety nets are failing LGBTQ youth. If we can spread accurate knowledge of the realities ULTIMATE GOALS of LGBTQ life & create shared definitions of gender - Widespread sustainable LGBTQ preparedness training across the & sexuality then LGBTQ youth homelessness board & specifically in homeless services

- Thorough understanding of LGBTQ life & needs in all areas of government to inform funding allocation, program development, & policy decisions. - Family acceptance training & counseling becomes the norms & first plan of action for families struggling to care for LGBTQ youth.

MIDTERM GOALS - Effective, action-oriented cross-disciplinary sustainable LGBTQ youth homelessness coalition - Funded & sustainable LGBTQ friendly spaces - At least one non-government controlled brick & mortar LGBTQ community center - Cohesive city-wide LGBTQ community with intergenerational support systems & learning opportunities.

NEAR TERM ACTION - Map, diagram, understand the whole problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness in Baltimore - Create shared definitions of the problem & its parts & disseminate to concerned organizations & individuals broadly - Convene partners & interested parties to build coalitions. - Meet regularly to identify barriers & opportunities for action.

will happen less.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Design mode means the outcome of combining three human gifts: critical sense (the ability to look at the state of things & recognize what cannot, or should not be, acceptable), creativity (the ability to imagine something that does not yet exist), & practical sense (the ability to recognize feasible ways of getting things to happen).â&#x20AC;? - Ezio Manzini, Design, When Everyone Designs22

ACTION PROJECT EXECUTION Through my research & community engagement strategies I found a need, & a direct request, to host a cross-organizational, cross-sector conversation about LGBTQ youth homelessness & what is being done to address it in Baltimore. The goal for a meeting was to provide community members with the opportunity to identify new potential for coalition building & galvanize a core group into innovative problem solving. Hosting a collaborative conversation about an invisible social problem is an intervention in & of itself. But I found the opportunity to develop that intervention even further: I set out to create a tool, with input & inspiration from service providers & advocates, that could facilitate difficult conversations about LGBTQ youth homelessness out in the world between experts & folks who were unfamiliar with the issue. The tool could be used to prove that an invisible problem existed, raise awareness to the issue, attract funding for services, & call out the need for policy reform.

This project is tentatively called Real Real Time Ally Time Ally to represent the need for timely allyship, advice, & direction while grappling with difficult material. Real Time Ally is a resource designed to educate & guide people unfamiliar with LGBTQ justice in becoming affirming allies through shared definitions, concrete next steps & direction for further learning opportunities. My initial plan was to create beautifully illustrated fold out informational posters modeled after the Center for Urban Pedagogy Making Policy Public project. However, at both brainstorm sessions participants generated the idea of a smart phone application. An app could house both the basic & comprehensive versions of Real Time Ally as well as resources for LGBTQ youth themselves. More possibilities include a glossary of terms linked to further information, a crowd sourced map of LGBTQ friendly resources, & confidential messaging capabilities.

Inspiration for this concept came from my observations of how agreeing on definitions, relying on shared tools, & building learning capacity help to facilitate difficult conversations about critical social issues. The problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness is in dire need of more attention in Baltimore. I saw the opportunity to comprehensively map out the problem in such a way that the map itself could aid advocacy work. I was able to host two meetings to begin drawing out the state of Baltimore LGBTQ youth homelessness. The first meeting helped me identify ways to better represent the problem. The second meeting revealed a simple collective insight that inspired the future of this work. The community identified an urgent need for a simplified training tool to teach the basics of LGBTQ youth life for folks working within social services & government systems. Essentially the group was calling for a hand held version of safe zone training for people that do not take safe zone training. This way adults trying to create better services & policy for LGBTQ youth, who were previously unfamiliar with LGBTQ specific needs, can become action oriented allies. At the same time my community partners are still interested in refining the complex version of this tool so they can use it to identify further interventions as originally intended.

PARTNER GROUPS Baltimore Homeless Youth Initiative LGBTQ Youth Prom Committee YES Drop-In Center

SUPER SUPPORTIVE PEOPLE Harriet Moon-Smith Ingrid Lรถfgren Jabari Lyles Kalima Young Lara Law Maia Gibbons Mercedes Hightower Michael Franklin

LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Group Brainstorm

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS Baltimore City Health Department Baltimore Homeless Youth Initiative Baltimore City Public Schools Baltimore City Youth Commission BCDSS Ready by 21 Black Trans Action Coalition Black Trans Men, Inc. City Steps/AIRS Connect to Protect Free State Legal Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network Healthcare for the Homeless House of Ruth Homeless Persons Representation Project Public Justice Center STAR TRACK Youth Equality Alliance Youth Empowered Society

REAL TIME ALLY AUDIENCES - Service providers within the homelessness sector - specifically - Service providers, mentors, social workers in schools, foster care, juvenile justice, government, law enforcement, medical care broadly - LGTBQ youth of any housing status To begin with the Real Time Ally-idea was designed as a launch point for folks that understand this issue. The toolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intention was to help explain the problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness to folks that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet see & comprehend it. These service providers, then, would be folks already aware of the issue. As the concept expanded the collective articulated a need for a simpler version of the resource tool that could be used to educate service providers who were interested, or at a tipping point of interest, in learning how to be affirming allies to LGBTQ youth. Looking forward another version of this guide could house information & resources for LGBTQ youth navigating the complexities of Baltimore social safety nets.

LGBTQ YOUTH HOMELESSNESS GROUP BRAINSTORM 1 March 31, 2015 | Center for Social Design At the first brainstorm we acknowledged LGBTQ youth homelessness as a critical issue in Baltimore & claimed our conversation as an opportunity to collectively better understand & address the problem. We began with an introduction to the first concept & prototype of a LGBTQ youth homelessness resource tool. We talked about what resources are available in Baltimore & how this concept could uniquely build on existing work. Attendees were encouraged to edit & attach suggestions to the tool as they came up. We broke up into small discussion groups to think about how this resource might be used & what is needed in the next stage of development to push this idea towards a community asset. Each small group shared back thoughts & reactions that came up during their conversations. The share back portion encouraged more whole group discussion & inspired further ideas for the second iteration. Key insights from the first brainstorm that greatly influenced the second prototype were: - This problem is non-linear, so the way it visualized needs to reflect how everything feeds into larger overlapping systems. - Identifying the target user for this resource will significantly impact the content & framing of the tool. - Consider the balance between data- bites of information, & storytelling- honoring individual lives and experiences. - Honor both biological & chosen family units, as well as the resiliency, resistance, successes & survival of LGBTQ folks.

MARCH 31 PROTOTYPE The first prototype was hand drawn to encourage participants to make edits & additions with post it notes directly on the tool . Folks were encouraged to adjust content in the Venn diagram to explore what work is being done to address the intersections of LGBTQ justice, youth needs, & homelessness in Baltimore.

- group & individual introductions - agenda setting - shared agreements for engaging with difficult material as a new collective

- familiarize & interact with the resource tool - small group discussion - group share back time & discussion - feedback & direction for prototype number two - note card surveys & goodbyes

LGBTQ YOUTH HOMELESSNESS GROUP BRAINSTORM 2 April 21, 2015 | Center for Social Design The second group brainstorm convened to share & hone the new hand-held version of the tool. We broke up into small groups to interact with the resource & a worksheet. The worksheet guided brainstorming to determine different types of audience for this resource & how the content would need to change for each kind of user. Then we discussed thoughts & reactions to the tool as a whole group. Collectively we came to the conclusion that this comprehensive tool is exciting & useful for those who already understand & work within LGBTQ youth homelessness; however, the more urgent need is for a simpler version that concisely describes the basics of LGBTQ, youth, & homelessness needs & indicates further learning & action opportunities for individuals who do not yet know how to best support LGBTQ youth within their work. The group expressed interest in both refining the complex problem version of the tool & developing a back to basics version to introduce new advocates to the issues that LGBTQ youth face.

APRIL 21 PROTOTYPE The second prototype was designed to be a fold-out document that people could interact with to gain greater understanding of how individual, local, institutional, & systemic relationships contribute to the state of LGBTQ youth homelessness in Baltimore. The new circular format honors observations from the previous brainstorm which noted that this is not a linear problem.

- introductions, agenda setting, & shared agreements - small group work interacting with the tool & a worksheet exploring audience, use, content, & framing

- minutes of group share-back, discussion, & feedback - minutes of ideation for a follow up meeting to share the third prototype & plan future collective work

APRIL 21 PR 1

ROTOTYPE 4

NEXT STEPS

“This is wonderful work! The tool looks amazing – it may be helpful to have a scaled down version (basic) with terms etc… and a more comprehensive (like the one you have)... for people more involved with serving the communities.”

- Participant, LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Group Brainstorm 2

REAL TIME ALLY

POTENTIAL TO SCALE

With the Robert W Deutsch Fellowship I will spend the next year hosting community workshops on LGBTQ youth homelessness to refine both the back-to-basics & complex problem versions of Real Time Ally. Through group brainstorms & further research the collective will identify the best format for each version.

Real Time Ally can be replicated & developed in numerous ways. Here are two possibilities:

To root this work in social justice I will organize an advisory board of community leaders in LGBTQ, racial, and housing justice. Testing will include prototype iteration, follow up interviews, & group conversations for feedback on the utility of the resources in action. The ultimate goal is to create resources that are easily adaptable, editable, & owned by Baltimore advocates working at the intersection of LGBTQ justice, youth empowerment, & housing rights. I plan to collaborate with YES on a training series to launch the final manifestation of the resources.

- Through storytelling workshops & intergenerational support groups between LGBTQ youth & elders, Real Time Ally could become an archive of stories of LGBTQ resilience, resistance, success, & survival. These would be stories for the community by the community. Real Time Ally could then enable the people most impacted by LGBTQ issues to direct how others are educated about LGBTQ life & experience. - Real Time Ally could become a facilitation tool for a variety of different difficult topics that need more shared understanding & public discourse in US American culture. Potential themes include: race, history, & power class, generational wealth, money, & capitalism mental health &/or body positivity sex positivity, consent, & education managing relationships (friends, partnerships, & family)

MEASURING SOCIAL CHANGE

REFLECTING ON SOCIAL DESIGN

Real Time Allyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success is based on the theory that wide spread understanding of LGBTQ youth homelessness & mass-cultural comprehension of the unique needs of LGBTQ youth at the individual level will create a shift in institutional policy & practice.

The role of a social designer is first & foremost capacity building for positive social change.

Short term change:

The process of building Real Time Ally has already catalyzed new focus & energy around LGBTQ youth homelessness in Baltimore. YES & other institutions are preparing for organizational adjustments to create more sustainable affirming environments for LGBTQ youth. Bringing more attention & understanding to this issue will build a stronger network of LGBTQ allied organizations. Change will be visible in the number of queer youth accessing & receiving services, as well as the creation of new resources & support groups.

Long term change:

Baltimore is at the center of a movement for justice during a time of adaptive definitions & extreme conflict. We need as many tools as possible to achieve more effective social systems. Real Time Ally will highlight the critical social problem of LGBTQ youth homelessness & provide insight to move policy towards just outcomes for Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LGBTQ youth. Tangible positive change will manifest in new policies, laws, & practices across sectors. The LGBTQ movement is straddling a significant point in US American history, directing positive momentum into lesser known & understood LGBTQ community issues could yield incredible social change.

Through my work with Real Time Ally I have filled the role of social design facilitator to guide collaborative brainstorming, initiate community based projects, & inspire environmental change at partner organizations. Even in its early stages of development, Real Time Ally has already begun to make space, create resources, & build capacity for folks seeking positive social change for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. Real Time Ally is not a community lead project - the ideal arrangement for social design initiatives. However, in every idea or decision I made I communicated with & questioned multiple experts & partners to pin point a course of action that would be beneficial & interesting to the community at large. Innovation is a pillar of social design. Innovation means to introduce new ideas or methods to established systems & processes. Many popular social design projects are based in the notion that equipping the public with the knowledge they need to make the change they want to see in the world will result in actual positive social movements. Real Time Ally aims to do the same - provide resources for more meaningful & educational conversations about LGBTQ youth homelessness. But Real Time Ally does even more. It illuminates an invisible social problem. It brings safe zone training out of required workshops & into every day life to assist allyship practice. In Baltimore, government level decision makers want to know how to better serve all city youth, no matter how they identify. Putting Real Time Ally in their hands could create organic new LGBTQ affirming policy & law at city & state levels. Introducing accurate, reliable information & definitions on difficult topics into public discourse is essential & innovative at this moment in US American history. Real Time Ally will tip the balance towards more socially just systems by giving people the tools they need to better talk about, understand, & serve youth, LGBTQ justice, & homelessness.

GLOSSARY23 ADULTISM Prejudice & discrimination against young people based on absolute age & not lived experience AGEISM Prejudice & discrimination on the basis of a person’s age. Ageism is most often applied to discrimination against the elderly, but the term also applies to young people & children. ALLY The act of making the commitment & effort to recognize one’s own privilege (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) & work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice. BIDIRECTIONAL A term for cause & effect working in both directions with the potential to cycle continuously. Functioning in two directions. BISEXUAL People who are physically & emotionally attracted to both men & women. CISGENDER Folks whose gender identity aligns with the biological sex they were assigned at birth. CONVERSION THERAPY Violating, non-scientific treatments aimed to change or correct a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. DISCRIMINATION Unequal treatment of people based on their membership in a group. In contrast to prejudice, discrimination is a behavior. To discriminate is to treat a person, not on the basis of their intrinsic individual qualities, but on the basis of a prejudgment about a group. GAY Men who are physically & emotionally attracted to men. GENERAL POPULATION For this work the term general population refers to the entire US American population. GENDER A socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity & femininity to people, usually on the basis of biologically assigned sex. The attributes of gender can change over time & are different between cultures. GENDER EXPRESSION How gender is communicated outwardly through dress, voice, behavior, & mannerism.

GENDER IDENTITY A person’s psychological understanding of their own gender. GENDER-NON CONFORMING A person who does not identify with gender expressions or roles expected of them by society. GLSEN Gay, Lesbian, & Straight, Education Network GPA Grade point average, an indication of a student’s academic achievement. GSA Commonly known as gay-straight alliance; however, some now use the acronym for gender & sexuality alliance to honor those gender identities & sexual orientations that are not included in the terms “gay” & “straight.” HETERONORMATIVITY Processes through which social institutions & policies reinforce the notion that there are only two possibilities for sex, gender, & sexual attraction. HETEROSEXISM How the assumption that all people are or should be heterosexual informs societal understanding of norms & behaviors. This system of oppression assumes that heterosexuality is inherently normal & superior & negates LGBTQ peoples’ lives & relationships. HOMELESS The state of being when a person lacks a fixed, regular, & adequate nighttime residence. Homelessness is a condition people experience as a living situation. HOMOPHOBIA Fear, hatred, or discomfort regarding people who are sexually &/or emotionally attracted to members of the same sex. HUD United States Department of Housing and Urban Development IDENTITY 1. The fact of being who a person is. 2. How a person defines & understands theirself. LGBTQ Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, & queer or questioning LGBTQQIP2SAA Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two spirit, asexual, & allies

LESBIAN Women who are physically & emotionally attracted to women. LIVED EXPERIENCE First hand accounts & observations from a person’s own life. MINOR STATUS The position of being a minor, under the age that separates childhood from adulthood, & the legal implications of being under the age of full legal responsibility for one’s self. 18 years old is the age of full legal responsibility for most institutions in US America. 16 & 21 years old are also important years for coming of age. MINOR STATUS CHARGES Legal action specific to young people under 18 years old. PIT or POINT IN TIME COUNT The federally mandated biannual count of sheltered & unsheltered people experiencing homelessness carried out on one night in January across the USA as required by United States Department of Housing & Urban Development. The PIT count definition of homelessness “only includes homeless people who are sleeping in transitional housing programs, emergency shelters or in places unfit for human habitation.” QUEER or QUESTIONING People who feel outside of societal norms of gender identity &/ or sexual orientation, including folks exploring or seeking to understand their gender identity &/or sexual orientation. RACISM A system of advantage & oppression based on race. Also recognized as prejudice plus power: the power of some—white people to normalize & perpetuate at every level of society & throughout time the oppression of another—people of color/nonwhites. RESILIENCE A person’s ability to adapt to stress & adversity, to recover quickly & thrive in difficult or trying situations. SAFE SPACE A welcoming, supportive & safe environment for LGBTQ people. SEXISM Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination against women. SEXUAL ORIENTATION Inner feelings of who one is attracted to or oriented to sexually &/ or emotionally. SURVIVAL SEX The act of trading sex in exchange for basic needs, such as shelter & food, in extreme emergencies. TRANSGENDER Folks whose gender identity does not align with the biological sex they were assigned at birth.

TRANSPHOBIA Fear, hatred, or discomfort regarding people who are transgender or otherwise gender non-conforming. YOUTH or YOUNG PEOPLE Folks between the ages of 14 & 26.

END NOTES 1. Toro, Dworsky, & Fowler “Homelessness Youth in the United States: Recent Research Findings and Intervention Approaches.” 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research, September 2007 2. Loricchio, Lauren. “Policy makers, advocates look for ways to serve growing population of homeless youth.” The Baltimore Sun, 30 March, 2015 3. Hwang, Theresa. “Designing for Equity: Using a Civil Rights Framework.” Design for Equity, 11 March, 2015. 4. Quintana, Rosenthal, & Krehely. “On the Streets: The Federal Response to Gay and Transgender Homeless Youth.” Center for American Progress, 21 June, 2010 5. Yes Drop-In Center. “Facts About Homelessness”. Baltimore: 14 May 2015. 6. “The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act , as amended by S. 896 The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009.” 7. Wenger, Yvonne & Campbell, Colin. “Baltimore’s new curfew takes effect Friday.” The Baltimore Sun: 7 August, 2014 8. A. Rae Simpson. “YOUNG ADULT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: BRAIN CHANGES.” MIT: 2008 9. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Life Johns Hopkins University. “Johns Hopkins University Safezone Training Manuel.” Baltimore: 18 August, 2014 10. Youth Equality Alliance. “Living in the Margins: A Report on the Challenges of LGBTQ Youth in Maryland Education, Foster Care, and Juvenile Justice Systems.” Baltimore: FreeState Legal Project, 2014 11. “2013 Homeless Point in Time Count Report,” Baltimore: The Mayor’s Office of Human Services Homeless Services Program 12. GLSEN. “School Climate in Maryland (State Snapshot)”. New York: GLSEN, 2014 13. Hanson, Centrone, Grandin, & Kenney. “Learning from the Field: Expert Panel of Youth Who are LGBTQI2-S and Homeless.” Department of Health and Human Services: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 4 February 2010 14. AIRS/City Steps Supportive Housing Programs. “Supportive Housing Services and the LGBTQI2 Community: Moving from rights and law to more culturally sensitive housing services.” Pride Presentation to HUD. Baltimore: 2014 15. Rae, Jessica & Wilpone, Seri. “Homeless Youth & Young Adults in Baltimore: An Overview of the Law.” Maryland Legal Aid, Summer 2008 16. Maryland Unaccompanied Homeless Youth and Young Adult Count Demonstration Project. http://www.youthreachmd.org/ Annapolis: 2014 17. Youth Equality Alliance. “Living in the Margins: A Report on the Challenges of LGBTQ Youth in Maryland Education, Foster Care, and Juvenile Justice Systems.” Baltimore: FreeState Legal Project, 2014 18. “UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 10 December 1948, 217 A (III) 19. Harro, Roberta L. “Cycle of Liberation.” 1995 20. Levels of Analysis frameworks credit to Myra Margolin & Baltimore Racial Justice Action 21. Levels of Analysis frameworks credit to Myra Margolin & Cecili Thompson Williams

22. Manzini, Ezio. “Design When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation.” Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2015 23. Definitions found in the glossary are an amalgamation synthesis of my understanding of each term. Special credit & citation for these definitions & my knowledge go to: Baltimore Racial Justice Action, The Social Justice Fund Northwest, the Johns Hopkins University & Maryland Institute College of Art Safe Zone training materials, & GLSEN’s Safe Zone Kit

For more information about LGBTQ youth homelessness, a full bibliography of my research materials, or a access to a copy of the Real Time Ally April 21st prototype contact Eva Fury, efury@mica.edu.