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Safe in the Stacks: Community Spaces for Homeless LGBTQ Youth

Created by Julie Ann Winkelstein, PhD, MLIS (jwinkels@utk.edu). Presented at the .

A Few Suggested Resources

This site includes an array of resources, including videos and articles. It provides excellent background on youth homelessness, suggestions for positive actions, and videos that give insight into the lives of these youth.

This website would be excellent for youth and librarians, by providing support and an opportunity for youth to be involved and by offering insight to librarians into the role of youth in improving their own lives.

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This toolkit covers an amazing range of topics on what foster youth aging out of the system wish they had been told. It includes comments on money, health, independence, resources, health care and much more. This would be a great starting place for ideas on how your library could make a difference. Much of the information is needed by domiciled youth as well as homeless youth - or even by adults. Your library may be a place some of these questions could be answered - with resource lists, with books, with programs or presentations.

(PDF)

This booklet offers vocabulary, suggestions for staff training and ideas about how to create a supportive and welcoming environment. The information is not designed for librarians, but much of it is applicable and it offers many excellent tips in an easy-to-read format. On the back there is a list of organizations that support the dissemination of the booklet. No library is listed.

(PDF)

Commissioned by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, this publication offers suggestions for city agencies and many of these can be applied to public libraries. For example: "Identify and disseminate resources for families of LGBTQ youth."

This document lives up to its name and it provides great insights into why young people end up on the streets.

New booklet from ALA/OLOS on homelessness and libraries.

True Colors United implements innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ young people.

This site offers excellent resources on families and acceptance of their LGBTQ children. It could be used as the basis for a family program at the library. It includes an amazingly moving video, "Always My Son," that offers insight into the challenges and successes as families move toward acceptance.

Online newsletters (These are national ones. There are probably local organizations in your area, too.)