Ali Forney Center

The Ali Forney Center (AFC), based in New York City, is the largest LGBT community center helping LGBTQ homeless youth in the United States. The AFC both manages and develops transitional housing for its clients. AFC helps approximately 2,000 youth clients each year, primarily between sixteen and twenty-four years old. AFC is named after Ali Forney, a transgender youth who was murdered in New York in 1997. Description AFC has 15 residential sites in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. In 2012, AFC provided 77 beds a night for homeless LGBTQ youth. AFC also runs a drop-in center, open 24/7, where clients can apply for housing, receive food and hygiene services and can access free medical and mental health care . AFC Founder Carl Siciliano says that the clients served by the drop-in center are often in the most acute crisis. AFC serves the LGBTQ population because they represent approximately forty percent of New York's young homeless people. History AFC has served homeless LGBTQ youth in New York since 2002. The organization was founded by Carl Siciliano. When AFC first opened, it had only six beds. Siciliano, who knew and respected Forney, recalls that it was a challenge to secure funding for the first two years of the organization's operation. By 2007, AFC had 32 beds, 50 staff and offered wraparound services including free medical care, HIV testing, hygiene services, job training and job placement through the drop-in center.