movieguy Posted March 23, 2006 Report Posted March 23, 2006 Funding Crisis Forces Gay Youth Center To Close by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff March 22, 2006 - 5:00 pm ET (Austin, Texas) Out Youth, a drop in center for LGBT teens in Austin, Texas, has closed its doors after 16 years. The center has run out of cash and has been unable to secure new grants. A crisis phone line is still available but callers must leave a message and wait for a return call. Board members say they had been trying to get money without luck for several months to keep the center going. For LGBT teens the closure means many have no where to turn. Nevertheless, they say they hope they can reopen the facility. "If we can make it sustainable, that Out Youth stay as an independent organization as it is now, it would rely on community support, even more so than we're getting now from individuals and from the community to support that," board member Bryant Hilton told Austin's all-news station channel 8. "We'd have to make sure that the plan is sustainable so that we're not in the same situation six months or a year from now," he said. Some board members believe the group might be able to survive if it partnered with another agency. Organizations across the country say they are tight for operating funds, pointing out in many cases community money is going to fight constitutional amendments that would ban same-sex marriage and battles over extending LGBT civil rights. ©365Gay.com 2006 links
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