FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp. has donated $25,000 to OUTMemphis to support its services and programming for youth ages 13-25.
The company’s Global Citizenship grant will support social support groups for youth and families, trainings and outreach at Memphis-area schools, and the Metamorphosis Project, a wrap-around network of services for youth ages 18-24 experiencing homelessness and instability.
“Our Youth Services program started a decade ago with a youth group, a food pantry, and a closet full of interview clothes,” said Stephanie Reyes, OUTMemphis’ director of development. “ As more and more young people came to the center from across the South looking for support, we realized that we had a mandate to expand and fill the gaps we were seeing.”
OUTMemphis says across the country, 40 percent of youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ, largely due to family conflict. Of that number, the largest percentage of homeless youth are both black and LGTBQ, a significant community in majority black cities like Memphis.
From OUTMemphis:
Five years ago, OUTMemphis began providing case management to youth clients and identified a significant need for hygiene supplies, bus passes, and other emergency services. With support from the community, The Youth Emergency Services Program gradually expanded to a holistic approach to supporting young adults who find themselves without ways to care for basic needs.
Beginning in 2017, OUTMemphis began receiving support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which allows the organization to provide a full year of rental assistance and case management to 18-to-24-year-olds experiencing homelessness. This program is one of just two youth-specific housing programs in Memphis and the only one dedicated to LGBTQ youth for hundreds of miles in every direction.
At the end of this 2019, the Metamorphosis Project will again significantly expand its housing and emergency services program with a Youth Emergency Center, located at 2055 Southern Avenue. The space will host a drop-in center for any young person in need under 25 and an emergency shelter for LGBTQ youth ages 18-24.
“The growth of our youth services program across the spectrum of young Memphians that we serve – and our capacity to provide even more looking ahead – is not possible without the enormous support that OUTMemphis receives from the community, including the partners who made the emergency center possible and believe in the work we are doing,” said OUTMemphis executive director Molly Rose Quinn. “We are so grateful that FedEx sees the value of the work we are doing with youth in Memphis and wants to be a part of it. We hope that as we grow, more companies will take their lead and get involved with the work that is being done locally.”
