By Alex Sorrells / The Jambar
Full Spectrum Community Outreach Center has opened Mahoning Valley’s first LBGTQ+ homeless shelter located at 660 W. Earle Ave. in Youngstown after several years of planning.
The shelter offers many services for people in the LGBTQ+ community, such as a food pantry, clothing, showers, Wi-Fi and laundry services. They also hold partnerships with mental health and medical resources, other food pantries and community events.
Nikki Crawford, housing operations manager for Full Spectrum, said housing problems affect the LGBTQ+ community disproportionately, along with access to mental health, food and medical resources.
“We have seen some shelters that will deny us entry because of religious reasons, and that’s their business, but we just don’t fit into those spaces. We’ve seen some places that are restricted or outright banned from serving us because of federal and state funding,” Crawford said. “In the long run, there are a lot of reasons that our community can be denied resources, and we wanted to open something that was designated to helping our community.”
Crawford has said the community response has been mixed, with many people responding positively to the shelter, while others have a negative view of the resources.
“Members of our community have reached out from across the state, and even other states, to say they support what we’re doing. They wish something like this existed in their area,” Crawford said. “We’ve also had negative replies. We’ve had a lot of individuals asking, ‘Why do we need a special shelter? Why do we need something just for [them]?’ not recognizing the systematic issues at hand that make this necessary.”
Many people and organizations have shown support, Crawford said, including hospitals, entertainers, retailers and city officials.
“We’ve had a wide, diverse range of people come out and assist us in all different ways, whether it’s cash donations, or they’ve donated their talents or they’ve come to physically volunteer and help get this off the ground,” Crawford said.
Though there were a few issues while trying to get the shelter started up, including permits and funding, Crawford said it would not have happened without community support.
“Anybody can come in and say, ‘I’m going to build this thing.’ But if nobody wants it, it’s pointless. It won’t survive. So that was the hardest thing,” Crawford said.
Crawford said the organization hopes to expand its services from emergency overnight stays to longer 30-day stays while also addressing other systematic issues in the area.
“Learning how to apply for a job, hold a job despite the struggles that they might be experiencing, knowing how to cook, clean, be able to secure residency and those different things and the financing behind it,” Crawford said. “Those are skills that are unfortunately lost when you are homeless from a young age. We want to provide proactive programming.”
Those in need of resources, interested in volunteering or donating can visit the Full Spectrum website.
