Friends-
Ifyou've been reading our newsletters, you know that PFLAG Tampa hasbeen working for months with The Homeless Coalition of HillsboroughCounty (HCHC) and other service providers to develop a Homeless YouthForum event to raise awareness of the plight of homeless youth. Onany given day there are hundreds of young people in our community whofind themselves without a place to call home and this event promisesto provide great insight into how our community can address thiscrisis.
The Forum will include a guest panel of homeless andformerly homeless youth who will tell their stories through apowerful video and answer audience questions about their experiencesand how they are addressing the challenges they have faced,including domestic violence, aging out of the foster caresystem, lockouts and commercial sexual exploitation. Resourcesfor homeless adults in Hillsborough County are scarce. For youth,they're almost non-existent. PFLAG Tampa is particularly concernedabout this vulnerable population -- research has shown that up tohalf of homeless youth are LGBT, having been locked out of theirhomes.
Mr. Jeremiah Kerr, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteerworking at HCHC (and a PFLAG Tampa officer!), has worked tirelesslyto make the Homeless Youth Forum a reality. Thisevent will be hosted by HCHC and co-moderated by Hillsborough CountyCommissioner Kevin Beckner and Homeless Coalition CEO, Rayme L.Nuckles. (Please see the attached flyer.)
Invitationshave been extended to elected officials at the city, county, stateand federal levels. Gov. Rick Scott has graciously accepted hisinvitation and will speak at the Homeless Youth Forum.
PFLAGTampa would like to extend a special invitation to all of you toattend this extraordinary event. Seating is limited, so be sure toregister as soon as possible for your FREE tickets. A complimentarybreakfast will be provided.
We'd like these kids to look outacross a packed theater full of interested and supportive allies. Ifyou can possibly attend, please do. Feel free to forward this toanyone you think might be interested.
Where:
StrazCenter for the Performing Arts, Jaeb Theater, 1010 North W.C.MacInnes Pl., Tampa, 33602
Date:
Wednesday,June 13, 2012
Time:
Complimentarybreakfast -- 8:30am to 9:30am
Forum-- 9:30am to 11:00am
Cost:
Free,but registration required.
Register:
www.homelessofhc.org (Ifthe link doesn't work, browse to the HCHC website and register fromthere.)
Parking:
Inexpensiveand plentiful parking available at the Poe Garage, with a coveredwalkway to the Straz Center. Hourly parking entrances are on W. CassSt. and N. Ashley Dr. (Please see the attached map.)
Seeyou at the Straz!
- John & Nancy Desmond, PFLAGTampa
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justiceeverywhere."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.,Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963
"We must make itclear that a platform of 'I hate gay men and women'
is not a wayto become president of the United States of America."
- Jimmy Carter,1996
Email: pflag.tampa@gmail.com
Web: http://pflagtampa.org
Telephone: (863)535-5239
Calendar: http://goo.gl/gg3dp
Facebook: http://facebook.com/PFLAGTampa
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PFLAGTampa meetings:
1st Wednesday of the month -- 7:00pm in theFellowship Hall of the First
United Church of Tampa (UCC), 7308 EFowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33617.
(Temple Terrace area of Tampa, justoff I-75.)
3rd Tuesday of the month -- 7:00pm at Faith Family UCC,9350 Bay Plaza
Blvd, Suite 125, Tampa, FL 33619. (Off Rt. 60, E.Adamo Dr., between
Rt. 301 and S. FalkenburgRd.)
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PFLAGis a nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with anypolitical
party or religious institution.