Forty to None Project – Founded by TheTrue Color Fund

Forty to None Project’s mission is to work to raise awareness about and helping to bring an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth homelessness.

In America, it is estimated that between 500,000 and 1.6. million youth are homeless each year and that up to 40% of these young people identify as gay or transgender. Since its creation in 2008, the True Colors Fund and its co-founder Cyndi Lauper have been advocating and raising awareness about the fact that no young person deserves to be homeless, let alone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In January 2011, the True Colors Fund set out across the country to meet with young people, direct service providers, community leaders, government officials and advocacy organizations to determine the best role for the organization to fill in response to the growing need around the issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. After a year of development, we are proud to launch the result of our extensive research  – the Forty to None Project – the first national program to focus solely on youth homelessness and its impact on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people. The Forty to None Project is committed to doing all it can to help to bring an end to this epidemic, and reduce the disproportionate percentage of gay and transgender youth who are homeless from 40% to none.

In the coming months and years, the Forty to None Project will unveil and execute an extensive set of programs and initiatives around the areas of education, advocacy, empowerment, capacity building, and inclusion. In the immediate future, the program will focus primarily on raising public awareness, engaging society to be a part of the solution, advocating on behalf of gay and transgender homeless youth on Capitol Hill, and empowering those whom the issue affects most deeply, young homeless people themselves, to overcoming the obstacles and realize the futures they deserve.

See more at:Forty to None

SOURCE:www.fortytonone.org