PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Joe Lynch encounters the story often: A young person thrown out of their house by family members.
“We see, on average, about 600 to 750 young people sleep on the streets of Philadelphia every night," Lynch says. "Of that group, 40% of those young people identify as LGBTQ+. That’s a growing population."
Lynch is vice president of developing and marketing at Valley Youth House, an organization that assists kids as young as 14 who are rejected by their families and left with nowhere to go.
He says they started out by addressing the housing needs, and the organization eventually scaled up their programming to meet the needs of marginalized youth all the way around.
"These young people are from the most vulnerable populations. They’re underserved communities, marginalized individuals. So what we see from a societal aspect of percentages of hate crimes, percentages of discrimination, percentages of neglect, really can be transferred, quite sadly, quite well, to the firsthand experiences of these young people that come to Valley Youth House."
He says without Valley Youth house, a lot more young people would be forced to sleep on the streets and stay in unhealthy situations.
"Many of these young people, we find couchsurfing. So, living on friends' and relatives' couches, or total strangers' couches. None of those are really safe options."
Since 1973, their team has been fighting to resolve youth homelessness by giving young people the foundation they need for survival and for brighter futures.
Nearly 50 years later, they’ve become more than just a roof and four walls.
"We started as the first housing program for LGBTQ youth in Philadelphia. We've just launched one of the first host home programs for LGBTQ youth, which is a new model of housing for young people in the state. It hasn’t been done before."
The agency is more like a chosen family that provides critical resources, including safety, healing, job placement and training, education, and life-saving support. Lynch says they run over 76 different programs in Philadelphia and surrounding counties -- a testament to their prioritization of young people from different backgrounds.
"Oftentimes young people don’t find themselves comfortable in adult shelters, because there’s risk of violence. Especially for LGBTQ young people, there is double the risk of violence and trauma and abuse."
While much else closed during the coronavirus pandemic, Valley Youth House stayed open.
"I think what the pandemic has shown for us, as an essential agency, we never closed our doors. We never laid off staff, we were here for young people, 24/7."
Lynch says during LGBTQ Pride Month -- and every month -- they’re committed to support and solutions.
"Funding helps provide for these young people, helps to provide the services, the life skills, the computers, the tech, all of those things that many people take for granted that young people going through school and going on to college, going into the workforce, need -- and frankly deserve. I’ve worked for organizations big and small, and I’ve never seen a dollar go further to change a young person’s life."