Center on Halsted Youth and Family Services

Center on Halsted has been supporting LGBTQIA+ young people since 1973 when it inaugurated its youth coffeehouse at Liberty Hall on Lincoln Avenue to provide a safe space for socializing, identity affirmation, and community building. Since moving into the current Center on Halsted building in 2007, we have provided direct services to approximately 400 LGBTQIA+ and allied youth each year, and over 3,000 young people overall.

In July 2022 After a six-month strategic review, Center on Halsted made some exciting changes to how it serves Chicago’s LGBTQ+ youth. For years, the Center has been a Chicago leader at providing a wide array of life-saving and life-changing programs and services to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, including its one-of-a kind transitional housing program in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. However, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it has become even more clear that all LGBTQ+ youth need a variety of supports in order to grow into happy, healthy, and contributing members of their communities as adults. Multiple studies and surveys have shown that LGBTQ+ youth face higher rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, substance use disorders, and violence than their non-LGBTQ+ peers.

In order to address the needs of these young people Center on Halsted has expanded its scope of services to support all of Chicagoland’s LGBTQ+ youth, regardless of housing status, and LGBTQ+ families as well. Today, Center on Halsted’s new Youth & Family Services department provides:

• Social, recreational, cultural, and educational programs
• Opportunities for LGBTQ+ youth & families to connect, build community, network, share resources, and affirm their LGBTQ+ identities
• A new mentoring program
• A revamped Youth Advisory Board
• A summer leadership academy
• Robust arts programming
• Anti-violence/anti-bullying programs
• Youth & family behavioral health services

Some programming is just for LGBTQIA+, questioning and allied youth, some is just for their parents/caregivers, and some is for both. The Center also offers programs and services for LGBTQIA+ individuals who are parents/caregivers as well. Click on the links below for more information on the various kinds of programs we provide or reach out to us directly at youth@centeronhalsted.org.