San Diego’s homeless youth have beds to sleep in at The Storefront, an emergency youth shelter run by San Diego Youth & Community Services, though more beds and more facilities of its kind are needed to help support the estimated 3,000 youth that live on San Diego’s streets and in parks.

When The Center’s Hillcrest Youth Center closes its doors for the night, San Diego’s GLBT homeless youth can go to The Storefront, located in the heart of Hillcrest, where outreach workers like Jeffery Evans, Jr. provide support in programs geared specifically to address the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth ages 24 and under.

“Most of the kids come over to our youth center when the Hillcrest Youth Center closes,” said Evans, an outreach apprentice at The Storefront. “We have 21 beds that are all located on site, and basically right now we’re a shelter for homeless teenagers.”

The Storefront deals mainly with case management, Evans said, and also gives out condoms, safe-sex kits, food, clothing at the shelter, where there is an onsite counselor. “We teach somebody to get a job, how to maintain… We can provide them anything basically from food, to an ID, to a job, to a birth certificate; anything they may need,” he added.

The Storefront emergency shelter is the only one of its kind in San Diego. Started in 1986 at 12th and C streets downtown, The Storefront is one of nine branches of Youth & Community Services, a nonprofit charitable organization with an annual budget of $7 million that relies heavily on donations and volunteers.

The GLBT homeless youth outreach program at The Storefront is run with the help of federal, state and private contracts. Evans said it takes about $1 million a year to run all of the facets of The Storefront, including outreach, the drop-in center and night shelter, health education programs and assistance for those at risk of or affected by human trafficking.

“Usually we have a pretty good flow of youth who come in and who utilize our services,” said Evans, who joined the team two years ago. Storefront outreach teams find and offer resources to homeless youth, and The Storefront’s day drop-in center provides street kids with a safe place between the end of the school day and the opening of the night shelter.

The number of youth who visit The Storefront varies from day to day, Evans said.

“Having an ear that is willing to listen; not only being able to listen, but being able to let that youth know that you are listening” is one of the most important elements of reaching out to youth, he added. “To have experience – to know what you’re talking about. You wouldn’t predominantly want to take someone who hasn’t necessarily walked that path, because the youth might not be as receptive. And I would say that just letting them know that you’re there and that you are willing to help them – you have to make them feel safe first before they open up to you and are willing to sort of let you take them under your wing.”

Youth & Community Services runs local group homes, community centers, teen recovery centers, transitional house facilities and foster care programs for at-risk youth. Their services are built on a three-step model – prevention, intervention and self-sufficiency – and offer shelter, substance abuse prevention and treatment, health education, pregnancy prevention and HIV/AIDS education, job preparation, adoption support and foster care, gang prevention and intervention and community development.

A project termed the Rainbow Lodge is underway to provide more shelter for GLBT, questioning and HIV-positive youth. The facility, which is currently under negotiations for a building site, will consist of a 6-12 bed, 4-8 unit transitional youth facility for youth, ages 18-24. On-site operations and services will include drug and alcohol treatment, professional mental health and counseling services, youth case management, health, HIV and STD education, basic medical care, job training and employment services, educational resources and tutoring, basic financial planning and fundamental life-skills training.

A 2003 needs assessment conducted by the collaborative behind the Rainbow Lodge interviewed 400 self-identified GLBT, questioning and HIV-positive youth in San Diego. Of the youth interviewed, 39 percent said that the only reason they were homeless was because they had been kicked out of their biological or foster home due to their sexual orientation.

Evans said that the GLBT homeless youth he encounters at The Storefront are primarily homeless because they have been kicked out due to their sexual orientation.

The Rainbow Lodge needs assessment also reported that youth consistently said they did not feel safe accessing the support services available to them in San Diego County, and that service providers encouraged them not to disclose their sexual orientation or HIV status at the shelters for their own safety.

The Rainbow Lodge collaborative includes The Center, The Chadwick Center at Children’s Hospital, Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego, YMCA Youth and Family Services and Walden Family Services.

Evans said The Storefront is very gay friendly and has many GLBT staff members. They also participate in Pride and AIDS Walk, and have street outreach designed to target gay youth. Safe-zone posters are located all around The Storefront, he added; posted in schools or businesses, safe-zone posters feature an upside-down pink triangle inside a black circle, and designate a safe space for GLBT individuals.

The Storefront and the Hillcrest Youth Center have collaborated on events in the past and future collaborations are possible, Evans said.