I only recently started thinking about homelessness. Growing up in rural Missouri and attending college in rural Vermont, homelessness was largely off my radar because I didn't regularly see homeless people or know anyone who had faced homelessness. After graduating this past spring and moving out to Berkeley, CA, homelessness has suddenly been a much larger part of my awareness. There is a much larger population of homeless people here--anytime I go downtown, I run into at least 10 homeless people--and my friend Paige is working as a case manager for homeless senior citizens. So, I've been thinking about homelessness a lot, lately.

Now, at this point, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this. This is a blog for LGBT Issues in Higher Ed, afterall. Well, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force estimates that 20-40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT inthis extensive report. That's a huge percentage! That's a huge percentage of our peers! Especially when you consider that the U.S. Department Health and Human Services estimates that LGBT people make up 2-3% of the population.

A number of LGBT youth wind up homeless as a result of the continued homophobia in our society. In a recent blog post by Change.org, Shannon Moriarty tells us:

After coming out to their families, many are running away, being kicked out of their homes, or - even worse - being assaulted by a member of their family, according to the NGLTF report. And that's just the beginning. Life on the streets is hard and cruel, particularly for LGBT youth. "I don't think there is any other situation where so much oppression and persecution and cruelty is happening to people because they're gay," Carl Siciliano, who runs a shelter for LGBT youth in New York City, told the Indypendent. "These kids are bearing the brunt of homophobia in our society."

These are people who should be sitting next to us in class or attending our LGBT movie nights, but faced with the economic hardship of homelessness, I doubt many can even begin to think of college. We are all hurt when a large number of LGBT youth face economic disadvantage--how can we build a movement when we have members just trying to survive?

Given all of this, I've started thinking about ways that we could do something.

Here are the ideas that I've come up with:

You and/or your organization could start volunteering at a local youth homeless shelter (if there's one around). The Ali Forney Center has this great list of Resources for LGBT Youth and Homelessness that includes a number of shelters by state.

Ask your local shelter if you could provide a training to workers on LGBT issues or see if they could benefit from pamplets that your organization or health center might have.

Perhaps you could invite LGBT homeless youth to events your organization puts on. Maybe it's even possible to build a mentorship program.

Or, if there isn't a shelter nearby, what about a fundraiser for a regional shelter that doubles as an awareness-raising event?

Could your organization start or support a scholarship fund for formerly homeless youth? Perhaps you could talk to your administration or admissions office about building support for this population.

In May 2009, the courageous young women Jill Hardman and Chloe Noble began the Homeless Youth Pride Walk. They walked across the country starting in Seattle, WA and documented the lives of homeless youth on their fascinating blog.

What else can you come up with? Does your organization already do something with homeless youth? Does your organization or college have any students who were formerly homeless? Let me know!

Want to know more?

* Here's an extensive article by The Indypendent entitled "A Forgotten Youth: New York City Queer Homeless Youth Survive at the Bottom of the Barrel"

*The Ali Forney Center, a New York shelter for LGBT homeless youth, has a ton of resources and information.

*A great short video on Homeless LGBT Youth in Chicago from 2007