ALI FORNEY CENTER

At the helm of our work is a comprehensive Drop-In Program that operates 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. Through AFC’s Drop-In Center, we have been able to offer our full continuum of care, serving over 77,000 meals per year, and providing medical and mental health care (including HIV education, testing, treatment and prevention services), showers, clothing and other supportive services (educational counseling, work and career options, one-on-one mentoring, etc.) to nearly 1,700 young people we see each year. The culturally-competent array of services offered are critical for homeless LGBTQ youth as it provides young people the opportunity to empower themselves with the tools and resources necessary to rebuild their lives. For many of them, it is their first exposure in an LGBTQ welcoming and inclusive environment. This environment is particularly vital as nearly 90% of the young people who visit this site are in crises having most recently experienced family rejection, homophobia, gay-bashing, violence, and other harmful effects of street homelessness. This site offers young people the tools they need to heal from family rejection and the harms of homelessness with the help of caring, dedicated professionals. The Ali Forney Center offers LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24, emergency and transitional housing and support so that these young adults can escape a life on the streets and begin to live healthy and independent lives. AFC offers an innovative range of services that provide a nurturing, caring, and supportive environment. These services include the AFC Day Center, which offers street outreach, referral to the housing programs, case management, primary medical care, HIV testing, mental health assessment and treatment, food, showers, and an employee assistance program. AFC also provides scattered-site emergency and longer-term housing with locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Also, AFC offers a family outreach program that works to support and strengthen families by providing counseling, education, and outreach services.

Our programs include: Medical, mental health, and substance abuse; Career and Educational Services are provided through a program called Learning, Employment, Advancement, and Placement (LEAP). LEAP is a 35-hour a week program with two distinct tracks designed to support the educational and career needs and desires of homeless LGBTQ youth. The program is offered in part on-site in a classroom in Harlem and throughout the city. We conduct assessments based on their desired paths, offer remedial services, provide classroom instruction, and support youth every step of the way. Volunteers help with tutoring, homework help, skills development, mock interviews, and other skills. Advocacy, leadership development, and empowerment are offered through weekly groups, and one on one sessions. Young people are engaged in understanding how they can play a role in influencing change in our community by using their voices to serve as advocates for causes important to them. Housing and life-skills development are provided through a 17-unit scattered-site housing program. Young people can reside in our Emergency Shelter Program or in our more independent Transitional Housing Programs.

The organization tracks progress by setting benchmarks for each department. For the central Drop-In Center, programmatic short-term and long-terms are set for the outreach, physical / mental health, and LEAP vocational/educational programs. The outreach program’s monthly and quarterly process goals include tracking the number of youth reached during the street outreach and community events, as well as tracking the reach of social media activity. Outcome goals include youth who then made their way to the central Drop-In Center to complete initial intake assessment interviews. The physical health program’s process goals include tracking the number of clients who are tested quarterly for HIV/STIs, and are engaged in preventive / treatment medical care. Outcome goals include tracking clinical measures, such as HIV Viral Load, and tracking STI infection incidence rates. The mental health and vocational/educational programs similarly track process and outcome goals. For our Emergency, Transitional, and Transgender housing programs, the progress indicators are their graduation destinations - we track whether they are able to move into independent living when they leave our housing programs.

In tracking client progress for reporting the year 2018, we were able to accomplish the following goals: Decrease rates of Food Insecurity by improving client engagement and retention at the central Drop-In Center; Increase rates of physical health-related behavioral change, specifically as it relates to increasing the number of clients who get tested quarterly for HIV/STIs; Increase the number of clients who are engaged in Mental Health care; Improve clients’ self-esteem, as measured via the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale; and Improve clients’ LGBTQ pride identity, as measured via the LGBTQ Identity scale.