Ending LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness

My dissertation uses 70 semi-structured interviews with staff, administrators, providers, stakeholders, and LGBTQ+ young people experiencing homelessness to examine how organizations and key stakeholders (e.g., shelters, state and local government, etc.) identify and meet the needs of LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness in Chicago. To better understand how macro level factors, like federal policy, impact organizations that serve LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness, I use a queer feminist policy framework to analyze the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and explore how the Act contributes to the different outcomes and experiences for LGBTQ+ and/or Brown, Black and/or Indigenous youth experiencing homelessness. In short, this project uses multiple methods to examine how providers, stakeholders, and youth servicing organizations reproduce and/or prevent gender, sexual, and racial inequalities through their programs, practices, and policies. This research has the potential to inform the decision-making processes that influence how funding is allocated to non-profits in addition to informing federal, state, and organizational policy that directly impact LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. The findings from this study may also contribute to the development of evaluative tools that can help providers identify potential sources of gender, racial and sexual inequities within their organization.

Category X: Gender Identities Beyond the Binary

Principal Investigator: Dr. Barbara Risman and William “Buddy” Scarborough

Project Manager: Jesse Holzman

This research is a three-city interview study of young people who hold identities outside of the gender binary. While there are inconsistent estimates of the size of this population, the public existence of people who reject the gender binary is already changing both U.S. law and American culture.  In several states and countries, there is a new legal “Category X” to designate one’s gender. This research aims to understand how non-binary people understand their own sex and gender identity, their perceptions of gender norms and structure, and the societal implications of these emergent identities.

3/40 BLUEPRINT: Creating the Blueprint to Reduce LGBTQ Youth Homelessness

Principal Investigator: Dr. Alan Dettlaff and Dr. Henrika McCoy

Project Coordinator: Jesse Holzman

This project responds to the needs of LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness by developing a blueprint to reduce the 40% of homeless youth who identify as LGBTQ over the 3 years of this project (the 3/40 BLUEPRINT). This blueprint works to build the capacity of Transitional Living Programs to serve LGBTQ homeless youth by strengthening their efforts to better understand and address the needs of this population. To do so, this project conducted a systematic review of existing literature; a comprehensive needs assessment; and a systematic identification and analysis of screening and assessment tools, existing and emerging practices, and trainings for RHY providers. The project was guided by the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Intervention Model and an Implementation Science framework.  This project also centers the unique needs of transgender and LGBTQ+ homeless youth of color and the promising strategies that respond to those needs.