Shelters sought for homeless youths in Nashville

An effort is underway to give homeless young adults in Nashville a place to go at night where they can feel safe and be who they are.

The Launch Pad effort aims to raise funds to support shelters for homeless people between the ages of 18 and 24, many of whom are LGBT. The effort began after the Oasis Center had to close its shelter for young adults this year because of the loss of federal funding. The goal is to raise $10,000 to support shelters where all homeless young adults will be welcome as long as they are tolerant and respectful of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

“We are not going to be at the door asking if you have your gay card,” said Pam Sheffer, who is spearheading the effort with partners in Nashville’s LGBT community.

Although Sheffer is an employee of the Oasis Center, the Launch Pad initiative is independent from the Nashville nonprofit that serves at-risk youth. The Oasis Center lost a $200,000 yearly federal grant about two years ago for a transitional living program for young people it had been running since the mid-1980s. The funding was lost to the sequester, automatic cuts that were enacted after Congress and the president failed to come to a budget agreement.

Oasis kept the center open even without the funding, said Mark Dunkerley, the organization’s vice president of development, but had to close it after reapplying for grant money that didn’t come through.

“It left a situation where here is a huge hole,” Dunkerley said. “It was a decision we did everything in our power to avoid making, but at the end of the day we didn’t receive the federal grant again.”

The Launch Pad will not try to re-create the full line of services Oasis offered with its homeless shelter. But the volunteers will stretch every dollar, said Wesley Summers, who is responsible for raising funds through direct asks and online efforts.

“That $10,000 goal is based on the math of how much it takes to operate these shelters,” Summers said. “Our goal is get three of these shelters up as soon as we can. These shelters take about $300 a week to run. They would hold around 10 kids a night.”

Launch Pad is working toward partnering with nonprofits and businesses that have space to offer. It will use donations to buy cots and provide snacks, coffee in the morning, protein packs and hygiene items to the young people.

Donations to Launch Pad are tax deductible because the funds are being managed by Music City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a nonprofit organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service.

Any where from 35 percent to 40 percent of homeless young adults identify as LGBT, said Dunkerley and Sheffer. That percentage is in line with national numbers.

Young LGBT often move to cities from rural areas where they don’t fit in and may not be welcome in their family homes. And sometimes they aren’t welcome in homeless shelters, especially if they are transgender, Summers said.

Reach Tom Wilemon at 615-726-5961 and on Twitter @TomWilemon.

How to donate

Online: Go to facebook.com/LaunchPadTN then click the fundrazr.com link.

By mail: Write check to Music City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and put Launch Pad on the “for” line, mail it to Music City Sisters, 2718 Mashburn Road., Nashville 37210.