Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Fund to Launch National Organization to Raise Awareness Around Gay and Transgender Youth Homelessness

22
Jun 2012
Forty to None Project, the First of its Kind, Will Educate and Engage the Public to Support Homeless LGBT Youth

MEDIA ADVISORY
June 22, 2012

NEW YORK — Next week, Grammy and Emmy award-winning artist and advocate Cyndi Lauper will launch the Forty to None Project, a national project of the True Colors Fund aimed at empowering and advocating on behalf of homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, while educating and raising awareness around the issues they face. The Forty to None Project is the first national organization that works solely to address the needs of homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, who make up to 40% of all homeless youth in this country. The Project is committed to doing all it can to help bring an end to this epidemic and bring that 40% figure to none.

To kick-off this new effort, the Forty to None Project has produced a public service announcement (PSA) that presents the realities of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness through tangible statistics, and encourages the audience to get informed and get involved in the Forty to None Project. Additionally, the Project will launch a website at www.fortytonone.org on June 24th to educate and engage the public, as well as provide resources and information to empower homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and support the organizations that serve them.

Additionally, the True Colors Fund/Forty to None Project is previewing the results of a survey conducted in partnership with The Palette Fund and the Williams Institute from October 2011 through March 2012, which assessed the experiences of homeless youth organizations in providing services to LGBT youth and the prevalence of LGBT youth within the homeless population being served by these organizations.