Finding Our Home Campaign
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In the heart of Chicago, the Youth Empowerment Performance Project (YEPP) has spent the last 14 years striving to create a brave environment for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) youth experiencing homelessness to explore their history, investigate new ways to address their struggles and to celebrate their strengths through personal, leadership and community development programming that incorporates different art-expression forms.
For the past 2 years, YEPP has operated out of the Broadway United Methodist Church (BUMC), using the space to provide services to unhoused LGBTQI+ youth, including laundry, showers, a place to sleep, food and our standard programming. On February 25th, 2025, the BUMC informed us that YEPP would need to vacate our current space before March 31st, 2025. This building has come to feel like our home, and this announcement came without a comprehensive explanation nor enough time to plan our move.
You can read our full statement on the damaging effects of this decision here: YEPP Statement: Advocating for Justice and Healing Amid Unexpected Eviction.
Although we at YEPP are deeply saddened and disappointed by this development, we are not disheartened. We—as well as the young people we serve—are resilient and powerful, and we feel confident that with the help of our community, we can continue to further our mission of love and unity. In response to this obstacle we have launched a new fundraising campaign: "Finding Our Home".
Our goal is to raise 30K to respond to the immediate costs of the move. The primary use of these funds will go to three distinct categories, all paramount to our success as an organization:
- Operational costs: Moving expenses, storage spaces, and all other costs associated with securing an interim space to continue our programming.
- Staff stipends: Our staff is working overtime to manage the many moving pieces concerning this eviction. Raising funds allows us to continue to pay our staff for their time and service during this difficult moment.
- Serving our Participants: While this move will be difficult for all of us here at YEPP, the group likely to be most affected is also the group most vulnerable to change: our participants. In our current space, we were able to provide many basic services to our young people (washing machines, showers, etc.) that we likely will no longer be able to provide during this time of transition. We aim to continue supporting our participants by supporting them pay for these services while we are unable to provide them. In addition, we hope to support our participants with grief counseling and more professional support as their formally safe-space undergoes a period of uncertainty.
We need lots of support during this transition, in terms of time, money, and publicity. Please share our fundraising campaign with your family, friends, co-workers, and community members. If you’re interested in volunteering your time, please complete the volunteer form Supporting our Move. If there’s another way you’d like to donate, you can visit our website's section "Finding Our Home".
We at YEPP are operating from a place of gratitude for a community so willing to help each other in times of crisis, and for an opportunity to do better by the young people we serve. We thank you for your continued support and advocacy as we strive to fulfill our mission and serve our community.
Organizer
Youth Empowerment Performance Project
Organizer
Chicago, IL