Promise Place School for LGBTQ Homeless Youth to host 1st Annual Gala

By: Lauren Walleser/TRT Assistant Editor—
BOSTON, Mass.—The Promise Place School—a residential school aiming to provide a permanent, safe and loving home environment in Cape Cod for homeless LGBT youth in Massachusetts ages 12-24—is set to open in September 2015. Founded by Erica Kay-Webster and The Foundation for International Justice, Promise Place School will host its First Annual Gala Fundraising Event Saturday, December 6, 2014.

The Foundation recently received its official 501© (3) nonprofit status as an educational charity, making it possible for them to apply for state and federal funding, foundation grants, and expand their individual donor base. As they have been incorporated as an independent school, they have broadened their funding sources and now have the ability to issue tax-exempt bonds for future expansion and capital investments, according to Kay-Webster.

“Promise Place School was created from a vision I had to create a permanent solution to ending chronic homelessness for LGBT youth,” said Kay-Webster, who experienced homelessness herself as a young transgender woman. [pullquote]“Promise Place School was created from a vision I had to create a permanent solution to ending chronic homelessness for LGBT youth,” said Kay-Webster, who experienced homelessness herself as a young transgender woman.[/pullquote]

In researching the success of other programs that have dealt with the issue of homeless youth, Kay-Webster said she found the one missing component to ensuring long-term success was the educational component.

“Research has shown us that shelters, group homes, and the foster care system have not been enough,” she said. “Although shelters are necessary, they are simply there for emergency measures.”

Promise Place School will provide an equivalency program and grades 6-12 with a high school diploma upon graduation. Students will then be offered scholarships to college, trade schools and technical schools. Christopher Morgan-Janes, D.A., educational director for The Promise Place School, shared what that educational component will look like.

“We will be an independent school, which allows us to define our mission, hire teachers we believe will be able to meet the student’s unique needs, and determine what we will teach,” Morgan-Janes said. “Our philosophical beliefs about education are guiding the designs of this school. Specifically, we are planning a curriculum that includes typical subjects: Art, History, Language Arts, Math, Music, Philosophy, and Science. However, we plan to use alternative texts, pedagogies, and curriculum that reflect the educational needs of the students. This includes Sugata Mitra’s School in the Clouds, Khan Academy, experiential Science and Math, LGBT history and literature, as well as practical skills: gardening, sailing, and cooking classes.” [pullquote]Promise Place School will provide an equivalency program and grades 6-12 with a high school diploma upon graduation. Students will then be offered scholarships to college, trade schools and technical schools.[/pullquote]

Along with traditional schooling, the youth at Promise Place School will also receive additional support.

“Homeless LGBT teens’ daily survival becomes more pressing than other typical teen activities,” said Morgan-Janes. “Promise Place School will need to first provide them with a safe haven including food, clothing, and shelter. Additionally, they experience a greater degree and occurrence of depression, loneliness and social problems than their heterosexual counterparts. Given this and their sense of rejection, we will provide them with counseling in conjunction with schooling.”

Kay-Webster shared that she found the concept of house parents to be most the important element for youth success, which will be part of the structure at Promise Place School.

“Our homeless youth were rejected upon coming out to their families,” she said. “The very first lesson they learned was that love was conditional. That alone is traumatizing, and then adding the sudden shock of being on the streets with no support group, facing hunger, and just trying to survive, our youth have been so traumatized that all hope is gone. From there they turn to drugs and alcohol, shoplifting, the sex trade, and anything they can do just to survive.”

According the Kay-Webster, the school will take step “outside the box” of traditional ways of dealing with homelessness to meet the youth where they are, and to provide “a place of healing and growth.” [pullquote]The First Annual Gala Fundraising Event for Promise Place School will include a VIP meet and greet, dinner, a silent and live auction, award ceremony, and live show featuring cabaret singer and comedienne Irene Soderberg and other entertainers.[/pullquote]

“The time has come for us to raise our voices and let the world know that our children matter—all of our children—and to raise our voices so loudly that our homeless youth cannot continue to be ignored,” she said. “We owe this to our youth and it is our obligation to bring an end to youth homelessness. For me, this is a personal mission based in great part to the shame and guilt that I carried for years because of my struggle for survival as a homeless teen. I was one of the few fortunate teens when I was rescued after my second suicide attempt at age 17. It is because of the family that took me in and gave me love and stability that I am alive today. It is to them that I owe my success and now have the passion and ability to pass this on to our youth today.”

Kay-Webster said that the youth who will live at Promise Place will come from the Commonwealth through referrals, and that discussions have already begin with the City of Boston to open a second school. Her vision is to expand the school throughout the U.S.

The First Annual Gala Fundraising Event for Promise Place School will include a VIP meet and greet, dinner, a silent and live auction, award ceremony, and live show featuring cabaret singer and comedienne Irene Soderberg and other entertainers.
“Irene has dedicated much of her life to raising millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS foundations,” said Kay-Webster. “She is a strong ally and friend to the LGBT community and the best of all; she has a voice as big as her heart.”

Those who will be presented with awards include Senator Elizabeth Warren (Woman of the Year); Governor Deval Patrick (Compassion in Government); State Senator Dan Wolf (Humanitarian Award); Susanne Beaton (Massachusetts Lifetime Champion for the Homeless); Laura Farnsworth (Worcester LGBT Youth Champion Award); Steve and Barbara Grossman (Massachusetts Straight For Equality Award); Deb Goldberg (Philanthropy in Politics Award); The Rainbow Times (LGBT Champion In Media Award); and Paul and Carolyn Hebert/Founders of Champ House on Cape Cod (Cape Cod Champions Lifetime Achievement Award). The five components used to select honorees were compassion, philanthropy, lifetime accomplishments, advocacy and champions for quality for the LGBT citizens of the Commonwealth, and advocacy and dedication for homeless LGBT youth and homeless youth.

“There are so many deserving Champions in Massachusetts who are not on this list and their work has not gone unnoticed,” said Kay-Webster. “We are already beginning to plan our first major kickoff event next spring in Boston and will select many others to be honored at that event.”

Special guests, politicians, and other notable figures who have been invited include Congressman Bill Keating, Congressman Joe Kennedy, Senator Ed Markey, State Representatives Sarah Peake, Brian Mannal and Cleon Turner, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston City Councilors Michelle Wu and Tito Jackson, Barnstable County Commissioners, Barnstable County Human Rights Commission, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Elton John, Ellen Degeneres, Laverne Cox, and others. Though Kay-Webster said they do not expect all of them to personally attend, they have requested items from the celebrities for the auction.

Invitations have also gone to members of the Massachusetts LGBT Youth Commission, Massachusetts Commission for the Homeless, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, Youth on Fire, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, MassEquality, Gay & Lesbians Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Human Rights Campaign (HRC), The National LGBTQ Task Force, PFLAG of Cape Cod, and other allies.

Platinum sponsors for the event include Eastern Bank, PrizmPR and The Rainbow Times. [pullquote]“Promise Place School will need to first provide them with a safe haven including food, clothing, and shelter. Additionally, they experience a greater degree and occurrence of depression, loneliness and social problems than their heterosexual counterparts.[/pullquote]

“Social justice is central to our core at Eastern Bank,” said Nancy Huntington Stager, executive vice president, Human Resources & Charitable Giving, Eastern Bank Corporation. “It’s part of our mission today, as it was nearly 200 years ago when we were founded. Now, as the oldest and largest mutual bank in the country, we work with a broad and diverse group of customers, and we recognize the importance of building community, both geographically and demographically. We know that a huge percentage of homeless youth are LGBTQQIA; abandoned by their families because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. How could we not support the school that will provide a home and school environment that is reliable, dependable and safe, where the students will find the encouragement—through strong education, leadership, and support programs—to excel in school and life. The world needs the contributions these kids will make. No one should throw them away. We want to be a part of the solution, to help set them on a solid path for their futures.”

Hy-Line Cruises is a community sponsors, and additional sponsors are still in the works.

“One of my favorite quotes, ‘We are all given gifts and therein lies our destinies,’ speaks so clearly of my hopes for youth,” said Morgan-Janes. “It can be difficult to know our gifts. Sometimes they are born from great pain, but with support, we can find them. Our plans will support the homeless teens in both practical and philosophic ways. We hope to build a sense of community within the school so that when the teens leave they will understand that there is a larger community they are part of and can build for themselves. My biggest hope is that these homeless LGBT teenagers will be able to understand their gifts.”

Tickets for the gala—which will be held Dec. 6 at the Hyannis Hilton Doubletree Inn in Hyannis, Mass. from 6 to 10 p.m.—are $60. Tickets will be available for purchase until November 28, which is also the cutoff date to RSVP. For those who can’t attend, a donation ticket will also be available on the website, through EventBrite, and via RSVP cards. To purchase tickets and for more information on Promise Place School visit www.promiseplaceschool.org.