Every day until Christmas, we’re posting different organizations that could use your donations this holiday season. Today, we have a place dear to all our hearts at WOW: The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Jeff Griffith Youth Center. Established in 1995, the Youth Center was created to help homeless youth make the transition into independent living and to create a comfortable space for in-school, at-home and at-risk youth to socialize with other lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in an alcohol-free, drug-free, safe, educational and affirming environment.
The Youth Center is designed to serve youth 18-24 years old, and to provide an environment in which youth can interact with other people like themselves. The Youth Center offers three hot meals per day, showers, lockers, laundry facilities and clothing. Also provided are: employment training and job placement, a peer-to-peer support program, HIV testing and health prevention education, creative arts programs, and psycho-social services. In addition, dance classes, weekend barbecues, talent shows and karaoke nights are conducted each month.
The Youth Services Department focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth who do not always experience safety in predominantly heterosexual environments and whose unique needs are sometimes overlooked at other agencies. The self-empowerment of youth stands as the ultimate goal of the Youth Services Department. We believe that youth are full participants and equal partners in the creation, development, and implementation of services. All youth have the right to a safe, secure, nurturing living environment in which they can develop in a manner that allows them to maximize their full potential physically, socially, emotionally, spiritually, educationally, and culturally.
A great cause that could certainly use your donatonation!
To contact the Jeff Griffith Youth Center, call 323-461-8163, or e-mail [email protected].
Jeff Griffith Youth Center
7051 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90038
