With more than a year of tireless groundwork completed in its mission to reduce LGBTQ youth homelessness in Chicago by providing transitional housing and support services to homeless LGBTQ young adults," Project Fierce Chicago will be holding its first fundraiser, "Breakfast 'n' Beds," at Celtic Crossings Irish Pub in Chicago on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 1 p.m.
Its founder, Cassandra Avenatti, MSW, is an accomplished educator, performer, writer and radical social worker who has dedicated her life to advocating for those people society would rather ignore.
Her extensive resume on behalf of homeless LGBTQ youth has included volunteering as an HIV test counselor at the Broadway Youth Center and then serving as HIV program coordinator at Children's Memorial Hospital as well as director of LGBTQ Youth Programs at Vida/SIDA.
With a large percentage of homeless LGBTQ youth either drawn into sex-trafficking or engaged in sex-work as a means of survival, Avenatti has been a powerful voice in attempting to reduce the stigma surrounding sex-workers while campaigning for their rights and providing invaluable education and awareness about sex-trafficking. In that capacity, she currently serves as an Executive Board member for the Sex Worker's Outreach Project ( SWOP ).
Like many of the young people for whom she would eventually champion, when she first arrived in Chicago Avenatti had next to nothing to call her own and so began a most tumultuous period in her life. "I survived a pretty complex trauma," she recalled to Windy City Times. "I was precariously housed and utilized food pantries. But I got connected to the queer community and it was life-saving for me."
Relentlessly driven by her own experiences and armed with the education she received through the nature of her work, Avenatti became determined to address the root cause of all the hopelessness, violence and unrelenting societal rejection she witnessed in the LGBTQ youth she served over the years.
"Clearly, most people who do any kind of work in Chicago with young people or with LGBT populations recognize that homelessness is an incredibly pervasive issue in this city," Avenatti said. "For the thousands of homeless LGBTQ young folks that are here, there are only a couple of hundred beds."
So the radical social worker had a radical idea.
"I thought 'let's not only create housing for LGBT young adults and youth but let's do it outside the current institutional non-profit system, let's do it in a way that's grass roots but in a collective model that feels good and right and responsive'," Avenatti remembered.
The model would thus free her organization from having to acquiesce to the often-changing programmatic requirements found in federal funding, giving it the independence needed to set its own rules and so address community needs in both an immediate and instinctual way.
Avenatti mentioned the idea to four of her friends and former colleagues: social worker Jackie Boyd, Trans Oral History Project founder André Pérez, advocate and future Ph.D in Clinical Psychology Katrina M. Sanford and activist, writer and community organizer Cassie Warren.
Avenatti said she was drawn to them because they shared something in common—they were not only fierce community organizers but had each played pivotal roles in her life."We've all worked in queer services and social services together and have all done independent organizing. They are people who make things happen and have a lot of energy and commitment behind their work. They jumped right on board and I will always be grateful to them for that."
So the five fierce organizers got together, forged Avenatti's ambitious concept into a structured model, battled through legal and administrative headaches and, in April 2013, launched Project Fierce Chicago.
The response has far surpassed Avenatti's expectations. "We've spent the past year building our collective, raising money, getting the word out about homelessness and what we're trying to do," she said. "People really cared about this issue. As soon as they heard about us, they were incredibly generous with their time and resources. Almost all of our funding has come from community members."
Those community members—alongside grants from the Chicago Foundation for Women ( CFW ) and the She100—have provided Project Fierce Chicago with enough money to purchase a home. Cash-in-hand, they are now on the hunt for the perfect place.
"It's a big investment so we want to make sure that it's a great fit for the people who will live there," Avenatti stated. "For now, we're right on course and on timeline."
The organization is primarily looking in the South and West Side neighborhoods of South Shore, Austin and Garfield Park. "We're focusing on places with some service gaps, easy access to transit and where there are LGBTQ community members already living and connecting," Avenatti said.
Project Fierce Chicago would like to find that home before the end of 2014. According to Avenatti, the "Breakfast 'n' Beds" event will help them secure the money needed for the rehabilitation of their future building making it safe, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing for its residents.
The organization's goal is to open and house eight to 10 young people by the fall of next year offering them a two year transitional program. "Success for us will be helping them to move to independent living, with an income and ability to access whatever they need in terms of healthcare, education and employment," Avenatti said.
Meanwhile, guests at the fundraiser will enjoy a Sunday brunch with Southern-style comfort food courtesy of community Chef Fresh Robertson, a silent auction with items hand made by community members, and a performance from the Youth Empowerment Performance Project ( YEPP ) followed by a talk-back providing opportunities for attendees to engage in and ask questions about LGBTQ youth homelessness. All donations at the event will be matched two-for-one up to $10,000.00
Outside of the financial goals, Avenatti ultimately hopes "Breakfast 'n' Beds" will end up building community—something that lies at the very core of Project Fierce Chicago, each of its founding members and its exponentially growing collective.
"We're all human, we're all connected and accountable to each other," Avenatti asserted. "We have a community that is full of resources, engaged and ready to move when the need strikes and these homeless young LGBT people are our responsibility."
For more information about Project Fierce Chicago and the "Breakfast 'n' Beds fundraiser, visit projectfiercechicago.org .
Tickets can be purchased here: www.Breakfastnbeds.eventbrite.com .
