"When you think about being gay, you don't think, 'Oh, this poor kid has been thrown out on the streets. You don't think, 'Oh his parents are kicking him out on the streets.' " ~ Jacques, resident of MCCNY Sylvia's Place (New York Times, 2005)
Listen to a podcast about Sylvia's Place here.
An estimated 25% to 40% of New York City's 20,000 runaway and homeless youth are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. These young people, many of whom have faced harassment and discrimination from the very people that should protect and nurture them, are in desperate need of services to achieve independence and self-sufficiency. Metropolitan Community Church of New York, a faith-based nonprofit organization located in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem neighborhoods, has responded to meet the needs of this disenfranchised and marginalized group of young, homeless people. Since 2002, the Homeless Youth Services of Metropolitan Community Church of New York (MCCNY) has worked tirelessly to meet the unique needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender runaway and homeless youth of New York City. MCCNY’s Homeless Youth Services includes a 6-bed emergency shelter housed in the church itself (Sylvia’s Place), and additional services such as food, clothing, mental health counseling, HIV prevention, and help with a variety of job and school needs.
Homeless Youth Services is supported by generous private donations, a variety of outside funders and, primarily, by MCCNY. MCCNY is one of hundreds of MCC churches worldwide as part of Metropolitan Community Churches (www.mccchurch.org).