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Breezi Connor (left) with Cyndi Lauper and Bonn Wade. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Chicagoan Breezi Connor (left) and Tracy Baim (right) with Cyndi Lauper. Photo by Bonn Wade -
Interview with Cyndi Lauper by Nancy Mahon, a senior vice president of global philanthropy and corporate citizenship for The Estee Lauder Companies and global executive director of the MAC AIDS Fund. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Cyndi Lauper asks a question during the summit. Photo by Tracy Baim -
True Colors presented Chicago youth advocates an award for their work. Back row, from left: Kristen Kelly, Lola Monroe, Ka’riel Gaiter, Bonn Wade, Zizi Phillips, Bonsai Bermudez, Jama Shelton, Gregory Lewis. Front: Anne de Mare, Breezi Connor, Tracy Baim and Cyndi Lauper. Photo courtesy True Colors Fund -
Jama Shelton, Forty to None project director, along with Twiggy Pucci Garcon, new Forty to None project manager. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Bonn Wade, Jama Shelton, Twiggy Pucci Garcon and Breezi Connor. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Gregory Lewis, executive director of the True Colors Fund, with co-founder Cyndi Lauper. Photo by Tracy Baim -
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks while Gregory Lewis, executive director of the True Colors Fund, and co-founder Cyndi Lauper look on. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Gregory Lewis (left), executive director of the True Colors Fund, with co-founder Cyndi Lauper, presenting Palette Fund’s Terrence Meck with an award. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Shelton, Lewis and Lauper. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Zizi Phillips performs for YEPP. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Lola Monroe performs for Lola Monroe performs for YEPP. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Ka’riel Gaiter performs for Chicago’s YEPP. Photo by Tracy Baim -
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi addresses the True Colors Forty to None summit. Photo by Tracy Baim -
The Cross System Collaboration: How Organizations are Working Towards the USICH 4 Core Outcomes panel: Simon Costello, Jerry Peterson, Megan Gibbard and Carla Silva, with moderator Sonali Patel. Photo by Tracy Baim -
The Let’s Geek Out: Technological Innovations panel: Twiggy Pucci Garcon and Joe Moran from True Colors, plus Chris Wood, executive director of LGBT Technology Partnership & Institute. Photo by Tracy Baim -
The Focusing Upstream: The LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Prevention Initiative panel: Jeff Poirier, Kelli King Jackson, Meredith Hicks, Ann Oliva and Jama Shelton. Photo by Tracy Baim -
YEPP’s Zizi Phillips (left) and Bonsai Bermudez. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Speaking about their work in Montana were Sheri Bach Boetler (right), executive director of Tumbleweed agency, and youth advocate Bentley Burdick. Photo by Tracy Baim -
For the panel Listen Up! What Young People Want You to Know, New York youth advocate Daniella Carter (left) told her story of living on the streets and experiencing violence, while Trai Williams (right), senior youth rep from The Mockingbird Society, shared their own work on the issue. Twiggy Pucci Garcon is center. Photo by Tracy Baim -
For the panel Listen Up! What Young People Want You to Know, New York youth advocate Daniella Carter (left) told her story of living on the streets and experiencing violence, while Trai Williams (right), senior youth rep from The Mockingbird Society, shared their own work on the issue. Twiggy Pucci Garcon is center. Photo by Tracy Baim -
The panel Working Smarter, Not Harder panel. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Anne Miskey, executive director of Funders Together to End Homelessness, speaking on the Working Smarter, Not Harder panel. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Laura Zellinger, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Chicagoan Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall at the U of C. Photo by Tracy Baim -
Clark Pellett with Kristen Kelly and Anne de Mare, directors and producers of the Homestretch documentary about youth homelessness. Photo by Tracy Baim
True Colors Fund co-founder Cyndi Lauper spoke at the event, and presented awards to the Palette Fund’s Terrence Meck and representatives from Chicago LGBT youth homeless projects.
Representing Chicago for the honor were longtime activists, performers, and more: Anne de Mare and Kristen Kelly, directors and producers of the Homestretch documentary about youth homelessness; Bonn Wade and Breezi Connor, two advocates on this issue; the YEPP team (Youth Empowerment Performance Project)—Bonsai Bermudez, Zizi Phillips, Lola Monroe and Ka’riel Gaiter; and Tracy Baim, publisher of Windy City Times, for the WCT Homeless LGBTQ Youth Summit held in Chicago in May. Other Chicagoans at the summit included Paul Hamman, president and CEO of the Knight Ministry; philanthropist Clark Pellett; and Alison Stanton, a co-organizer of the Chicago youth summit and followup projects.
U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also spoke during the summit’s opening reception.
Gregory Lewis, executive director of the True Colors Fund, and Jama Shelton, Forty to None project director, along with Twiggy Pucci Garcon, new Forty to None project manager, were the main hosts and MCs for the Tuesday sessions, which included a luncheon interview with Cyndi Lauper by Nancy Mahon, a senior vice president of global philanthropy and corporate citizenship for The Estee Lauder Companies and global executive director of the MAC AIDS Fund.
YEPP also performed for the summit attendees, and Phillip and Bermudez spoke in-depth about the critical role of stable relationships between adult mentors and youth.
More than a dozen experts in various area spoke about all aspects of housing instability, including research, government support, prevention, and funding. Both adult allies and youth addressed the complex issues.
Speaking about their work in Montana were Sheri Bach Boetler, executive director of Tumbleweed agency, and youth advocate Bentley Burdick. The panel “Working Smarter, Not Harder” had Chicagoan Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall at the U of C; Darla Bardine, executive director of the National Network for Youth; Laura Zellinger, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; and Anne Miskey, executive director of Funders Together to End Homelessness.
For the panel “Listen Up! What Young People Want You to Know,” New York youth advocate Daniella Carter told her story of living on the streets and experiencing violence, while Trai Williams, senior youth rep from The Mockingbird Society, shared their own work on the issue.
The “Let’s Geek Out: Technological Innovations” panel featured Pucci Garcon and Joe Moran from True Colors, plus Chris Wood, executive director of LGBT Technology Partnership & Institute. “Focusing Upstream: The LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Prevention Initiative” had Ann Oliva, deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development; Kelli King Jackson, executive director of Houston’s the Simmons Foundation; Meredith Hicks, director of policy and planning at Cincinnati’s Lighthouse Youth Services; and Jeff Poirier, principal researcher at American Institutes for Research.
The “Cross System Collaboration: How Organizations are Working Towards the USICH 4 Core Outcomes” panel had more powerhouse speakers: Simon Costello, associate director of Children, Youth and Family Services at L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center; Jerry Peterson, executive director of the Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit; Megan Gibbard, Homeless YYA Initiative Project Planner in King County, Wash.; and Carla Silva, executive director of The Alliance for GLBTQ Youth in Miami.
The final panel of the day was “Moving Forward Together: Think Tanks/ Action Planning,” with moderators Shelton and Lewis from True Colors. The agency hopes to have a two-day conference in 2015 in Houston.