Friday, December 10, 2010

HOUSE CALL


HOUSE CALL is a series of community conversations that will travel to different parts of Toronto in an effort to build a diverse movement to create a shelter for homeless LGBT youth in Toronto. Some of these conversation will be hard. Some of these conversations will be full of joy, full of pain, full of memory and full of hope. Some of these conversations will be historic.
All of these conversations are conversations we need to have.

The HOUSE CALL conversations have three purposes: Record, Relate & Renovate.

Record
We come together to build a record of our histories & hopes.

Relate
We come together to build a movement and make new friends and allies. We respect and listen to each other, even if it’s uncomfortable or scary.

Renovate
We come together to build a new shelter that reflects the needs and dreams of lesbian, gay, bi, trans, transsexual, transgender, two-spirit and queer youth.


On Thursday December 9th, 2010 we had the first HOUSE CALL community meeting, which will be a series of conversations that we will have in different parts of Toronto in the coming months.

Here is what the event looked like:
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7:00 Welcome

7:05 Short film ("Out on the Street") & presentation on why we need an LGBT shelter in Toronto by Alex Abramovich,
with some brief examples of LGBTQ shelters in America.

7:25 Record & Relate Round 1 (see details below)

7:55 Record & Relate Round 2 (see details below)

8:20 Whole Group Open Mic

8:40 Wrap-up & What You Can Do To Stay Involved

9:00 End

Record & Relate Options

We really want to give people different ways to Record & Relate their experiences, their passion, their fears and their hopes. You can choose to do any of the below options:

Art & Craft Area (hosted by The People Project)

Video Booth (hosted by Deviant Productions: Lali Mohammed & Vivek Menon with Leo Zuniga)

Audio & Podcasting Corner

Blogging, Endorsing, Writing and/or Online Surveys

Focus Group Discussion: Why we need an LGBT youth shelter (facilitated by Aniska Ali)

Focus Group Discussion: Dreaming & Prioritizing Possibilities (facilitated by CC Sapp)

Focus Group Discussion: Logistics like Location, Size, Partnerships and More (facilitated by Curtis Norman)
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The evening was well attended with people who helped spark the movement.
It was quite magical to see so many people advocating for such a necessary cause, especially on such a cold night in December when a service like this is so essential in our city.

I look forward to as many of these meetings as we need until the proper support is provided for LGBTQ youth who experience homelessness in Toronto.

Yours in solidarity,
alex

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