Dear Editor:
As a member of the queer community and a provider of homeless youth services, I was absolutely appalled to see Center on Halsted, one of Chicago's largest provider of LGBT services, listed as an endorser of an anti-homeless campaign 'Open Your Hearts, Donate Smart' in the Lakeview and Uptown areas. The campaign explicitly urges community members to donate to a list of non-profit agencies with the spare change that would otherwise go to homeless individuals who, according to the poster, 'spend much of their money on alcohol, drugs, and tobacco.'
Currently placed in many area business windows, these messages perpetuate the conservative rhetoric that homeless individuals negatively impact the 'quality of life' for housed people—including developers seeking to quietly gentrify Lakeview and Uptown. Considering that Chicago studies estimate that 40% of homeless young people identify as LGBTQ—and a large number of those are young people of color—I find Center on Halsted's endorsement overtly racist as well as homophobic.
Currently, the city of Chicago has less than 40 beds for approximately 15,000 homeless young people in Chicago. Unfortunately, this leaves thousands of young people outside and, most likely, attempting to access public transportation to the few day programs that exist for homeless young people. In fact, Center on Halsted offers such a program through its Youth Services Department. I demand that Center on Halsted and its financial supports critically reexamine fundraising efforts—unless of course we are only seeking to support and build a million dollar community center that only serves the rich, white, and gay.
Lara Brooks, Chicago
The Center Responds:
We strongly share Ms. Brooks' concern for homeless individuals and for lack of appropriate housing. Much of our work is intended to create positive change for those individuals who have been left to survival on the street, so we genuinely appreciate her call for more beds and services for those in need.
However, her reference to our organization as 'anti-homeless, homophobic and racist' is unjustified. A vast portion of our programming goes to positively impact the lives of people who are socio-economically challenged members of the LGBTQ community. Our clients and supporters are people of all ethnicities and backgrounds and our staff and board members reflect that diversity as well.
We work daily to improve the lives of individuals in our city. For example, in our Horizons Youth Program we provide meals and safe space for youth ages 13 to 24 and will soon be expanding our programming to encompass longer hours and more days. In our Mental Health and Psychotherapy services program, counseling and case management services are offered on a free and sliding-scale basis, enabling all to participate.
Aside from offering services to those in need, a part of our work involves outreach and training to other organizations regarding the specific needs and safety issues encountered by LGBTQ individuals. Our programs offer case management, harm reduction, HIV/AIDS/STD education and prevention, self-esteem building, career education and resume preparation, just to name a few. We are grateful that the police and many of the neighboring business owners and residents view us as a resource.
We participated in this campaign because it is simply responsible to encourage folks to donate their money to charities ( such as ours ) who reach out to provide services to the homeless, rather than to hand over cash to a homeless person unknown to them. While some homeless individuals may very well spend the cash for food and/or shelter, there can be no certainty of the use of funds if you are handing money to a stranger.
Offering, improving and growing the programs we offer requires money and as a non-profit business we unashamedly raise funds to carry out our mission. That mission says we are 'to provide a safe and nurturing environment, and serve as a catalyst for the LGBT community that links and provides community resources, and enriches life experiences.'
Many have been very generous to contribute to our current capital campaign and our new facility will help us serve more individuals than ever. While some of our donors happen to be rich and gay, most of our donors do not fall into that demographic at all. In fact, a very diverse group of donors have made significant sacrifice to make a donation to our community center. Not only do they support our capital campaign, but they also generously fund the programs which are the life of our organization.
We proudly honor their generosity by being good stewards and carrying out our mission every day.
Robbin Burr, Executive Director
Center on Halsted
