What's New
There are a number of factors that make New Alternatives unique, even among organizations for homeless LGBT youth in New York:
- New Alternatives works with youth that slip through the cracks in the programming that other organizations offer, either because they’re “too” mentally ill, or unwilling to come into the shelter or foster care systems, or “too” trans, or simply “too” different.
- New Alternatives is based on a low barrier-to-entry harm reduction model — one where youth can just walk in off the street and be fed, or clothed, or get help with everything from getting a Social Security card to applying to a GED program or college without having to fill out a pile of paperwork or commit to continuing in some kind of program.
- New Alternatives is funded solely through individual donors, small foundations, and fundraising events. As a very small organization, and one of the few agencies working with youth in the 21-24 year old demographic, there are three primary reasons why we do not apply for government grants: first of all, because most would restrict our right to serve youth in the 21+ demographic; secondly, because the reporting requirements far exceed the kind of time that our tiny staff has; and finally, because the overhead for the kind of documentation those grants require would mean that most of the money would go for staff time and paperwork, leaving little money for actually helping our youth.
Our youth and our services:
- Most of the youth New Alternatives works with are 18-24 years old. Gender Identities and expressions are across the entire spectrum, but we have a disproportionately high percentage of trans youth, primarily because they are the most discriminated against by other programs, the police, the public at large, etc.
- New Alternatives has been offering home-cooked hot meals prepared by volunteers to over 50-70 youth every Sunday night since our inception in 2008 for a total of more than 5,700 meals to almost 700 young people.
- Youth are also offered casework services, food, clothing, and the opportunity to participate in the “Life Skills” programming offered after Sunday dinner: around 1/3 of clients who come for dinner stay to learn more about topics including emotional and social competencies (e.g., anger management, conflict resolution, boundaries) as well as practical life skills (e.g., avoiding HIV).
- In addition, New Alternatives coordinates donations for textbooks and other school supplies for 10 New Alternatives clients who are currently attending college or vocational programs.
- Our clients are:
- By Race: 11% white, 45% Black, 20% Latino, 14% Mixed race, 1% Asian, 1% Native American, and 8% other/unknown;
- By Gender: 58% male, 25% female, 8% male-to-female transgender, 2% female-to-male transgender, 7% gender not specified.
- Black clients are disproportionately likely to be transgender (14%) or female (28%). While transgender identified clients of all races account for 15% of encounters, they make up only 10% of clients overall.
At registration, our youth were:
- 11% street homeless
- 51% emergency shelter or “crashing” with friends
- 16% transitional living program
- 16% long-term supported adult housing
- 6% independent (paying own rent)
- Work status at registration
- 16% have a full- or part-time job for regular wages
- Student status at registration
- 14% are taking college courses or GED prep
- Benefits status at registration
- 18% receive social security or other benefits (not counting food stamps)
Changing lives:
- Peers were bullying Jay, who came to us at age 16, in his foster home. We advocated to get him moved to a safer home, and supported him to stay in school. He’s now a sophomore at Brandeis University, where he is involved in student government and on the debate team.
- Ramon came to us unemployed and homeless — he was sleeping on the floor at Sylvia’s. We helped him with his documents, resume, and college application. He has now been employed as a janitor at Toys R us for 2+ years and is attending community college part-time.
Doing a world of good on a shoestring:
New Alternatives’ budget is less than 125K per year, and is run by a skeleton staff assisted by hundreds of volunteers. The only paid staff is Kate, our founder and director, who is paid part-time. Over 80 active volunteers have helped in the past 8 months, while 200+ volunteers have helped at least once since our doors opened in 2008.
Donate to New Alternatives:
- $4.50 buys a metro card to get a homeless to their case management appointment
- $15.00 buys a GED study guide to help a homeless youth toward their dream of a college education
- $25.00 pays for identification documents essential to seeking employment, education and government benefits
- $35.00 helps young LGBT couples qualify for the City family shelter
- $75.00 buys essential toiletries and supplies for ten youth
- $250.00 buys a hot, home-cooked Sunday dinner for 50 LGBT youth
- $500.00 buys a case of hats, scarves and gloves for 144 youth.
- $750.00 pays for college textbooks and supplies for a semester for a homeless college student
Every night, thousands of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender youth and young adults are homeless in New York City. Whether they have been kicked out by homophobic families, forced to flee conservative communities, aged out of foster care, or come from families torn apart by poverty, AIDS, drug abuse or eviction, these youth sleep in the City’s parks, on the subway, and in public facilities such as Port Authority and Penn Station. A fortunate minority find a safe haven in one of NYC’s handful of housing programs and shelters designed for this population, facilities so underfunded that youth wait months to get in or sleep on concrete floors and countertops. Another portion of the homeless youth population finds not-so-safe shelter in large, City-funded institutions or the men’s shelter on Ward’s Island, where they are subject to homophobic harassment- and even violence -at the hands of both staff and peers. The least fortunate of all find themselves practicing “survival sex” – trading their bodies for money or a place to stay.
Volunteers from the Lotus Corps
Posted in Community
November 26th, 2012
Volunteers from the Lotus Corps helped us prepare and serve a thanksgiving feast for 50 yesterday. And they brought karaoke!
Posted in Director's Blog News
November 26th, 2012
Dear Friends:
Before New Alternatives launches into our annual holiday appeal, we want to extend our thanks to the many of you that reached out after Hurricane Sandy to ask after our youth, and after us. As Hurricane Sandy blew in, New Alternatives remained open, serving our weekly Sunday dinner early to get the youth on the last train, and referring 10 homeless youth who had been sleeping on the streets to hurricane shelters. Like so many New Yorkers anxious to locate loved ones, New Alternatives had some tense days following the storm, but all of the youth we customarily see are now accounted for. We lost our entire inventory of frozen and perishable food when our new home on Christopher Street went dark along with the rest of the world below 14th street – a tough blow for an organization that runs on a shoestring. Still, we were up and running the Sunday after the storm, serving emergency takeout pizza to over two dozen youth, many of whose already precarious living situations have become even less secure in Sandy’s wake, with couches at a premium and New York’s already severe housing shortage worsening. Thanks again for caring. read more »
Posted in Community News
November 25th, 2012
New Alternatives youth spent thanksgiving day having a wonderful meal at Craftbar
New Alternatives’ Life Skills group
Posted in Community
October 25th, 2012
Staff from Day One discussed Intimate Partner Violence with youth attending the New Alternatives’ Life Skills group
Director Kate Barnhart discusses New Alternatives
Posted in Community News
September 26th, 2012
Director Kate Barnhart discusses New Alternatives on the OUT FM radio show on WBAI:
http://outfm.org/images/
You can hear the full show here: http://t.co/HYXGd61Z
New Alternatives youth browsing the donated clothes
Posted in Community
September 24th, 2012
New Alternatives youth browsing the donated clothes. In addition to clothes, we are looking for donations of crockpots – our stove is out of commission and we need crockpots so we can provide hot food for the youth. Update (1/8/2013): Thanks to your generosity, we’ve got so many crockpots that we keep blowing out the church’s electricity! Thank you so much to everyone who donated them!
Kate Barnhart
New Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth
New Alternatives Summer Grilling
Posted in Community
September 4th, 2012
New Alternatives volunteers Gemma and Jon-Michael cooking dinner! We served 40 hot dogs and an entire case plus an extra dozen turkey burgers. The menu also included corn on the cob, macaroni salad, and apple pie. More grilling next week…
New Alternatives is grateful to The William Fund
Posted in Community
May 14th, 2012
New Alternatives is grateful to The William Fund (www.williamfund.org) for making us their first beneficiary. Their grant will purchase food for our sunday evening dinner program.
Posted in Community
April 10th, 2012
The New Alternatives’ Board enjoyed ourselves at Night of a Thousand Gowns and extends our thanks to the Imperial Court of NY for a fabulous event!!!
Upcoming Events
-
June 8, 2013 11:00 am - June 8, 2013 5:00 pm
-
August 10, 2013 5:00 pm - August 10, 2013 10:00 pm
