Our Timeline
Stonewall CDC has made strides in supporting LGBTQ+ families with safe housing. We go beyond quick fixes, empowering people for long-term stability and fighting systemic barriers through advocacy. Our goal is a future where LGBTQ+ communities can thrive in diverse, safe homes.
Year 1, 2014
Organized corporate structure and gained 501(c)3 status.
Year 2, 2015
Began initial resurgence plan, building the board, community organizing and begin basic research on a universe of issues.
Year 6, 2019
The creation and launch of Stonewall Village NYC (SVNYC) – The survey report we published in 2017 not only put us on the map with policy makers and elected officials, it gave us some very clear marching orders – that people widely favored aging in place. We realized we needed to expand our capacity to support this. In 2018 we began designing a virtual community platform called Stonewall Village NYC (SVNYC). This online community has resources, information libraries and communications tools for one-to-one or group communications and activities. We designed it and then put 56 users through three guided test sessions each, which resulted in an almost complete redesign. In December of 2019 we launched.
Year 5, 2018
We hung a shingle as Housing Ambassadors, taking trainings on Low Income Housing Tax Credits, marketing and lotteries. We began helping people navigate the affordable housing system in New York City and added a benefits sweep to make sure people were accessing programs for which they qulaified. We won one of the first paid contracts offered by New York City for this work.
Year 4, 2017
We spent a year researching what the LGBTQ+ older adult community needs. We built a huge community partner network and worked with our social scientists to launch the first ever citywide survey of LGBTQ+ senior housing needs, which gave us a road map for the preferences and resources of the community and the challenges they faced. We needed 500 responses to validate the data and almost doubled our target with 966.
Year 3, 2016
We conducted desk research on LGBTQ+ housing projects around the country – with successes and (mostly) failures. With a grant from the Altman Foundation we contracted Somjen Frazer and Strength in Numbers Consulting. We did key informant interviews with City agency personnel and people building in the affordable housing sector to understand the NYC housing market, its bureaucracy and how the Fair Housing Act and City regulations on marketing preclude creating housing specifically for LGBTQ people when public monies are used.
Year 7, 2020
To rollout SVNYC we made monthly in person appearances at five different centers that serve LGBTQ+ seniors. It was an uphill battle trying to convince folks that they should connect digitally. After three months we had 120 registered members. Then COVID hit. We shot to 1200 users within three weeks, helping our center partners recreate their programs as online activities and training over 700 clients, administrators and presenters in online interactivity. We hosted all of the programs, always being present to resolve any tech difficulties. And we didn’t charge the centers a dime, because we knew they didn’t have it. Reconnecting totally isolated seniors was paramount. 2020 was also the year we held an online community brainstorming event called the Innovation Hub. We presented 5 LGBTQ+ focused workshops on senior housing and five on senior healthcare. For each 30-minute workshop, an expert would pitch an innovative idea for 6 minutes. Then they would have invited colleagues have a “fishbowl” discussion on the idea for the audience for 22 minutes. 138 people attended and we emerged with cross-sector working groups for three projects.
Year 8, 2021
2021 We continued the COVID online programs and activities. We continued our Housing Ambassador work. And we began to develop three innovative housing and healthcare models, convening cross sector working groups of experts to help us think them through. TD Bank co-moderated three roundtables of industry professionals, where we presented our concepts and the work we had done to date developing them, and our stable of advisors and mentors grew. We also made the strategic decision to become a partner project program of the Fund for the City of NY (FCNY). While still maintaining our own 501(c)3, we closed our bank account and FCNY became our fiscal conduit and our employer. FCNY provides the fund accounting, grant compliance, legal and insurance compliance and HR support. Most key, FCNY floats us an interest free line of credit against registered government contracts.
Year 9, 2022
In February of 2022 we began a $2.3 million dollar 2-year federal subrecipient contract with NYC Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD), placing homeless families and individuals with section 8 housing vouchers in permanent homes. We added ten housing navigators and two supervisors to our core staff of four. And we began to excel noticeably. We were soon assigned all HIV/AIDS related cases and domestic violence cases on top of our regular caseloads. In 2022, we also launched Leave No Veteran Behind with a generous grant from the New York Community Trust. With this project we committed over two years to house 14 LGBTQ+ older adult veterans in LGBTQ+ welcoming housing with support services coordination.
Year 10, 2023
All of our programs grow, as we pick up another housing voucher placement contract from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Between the two contracts, since 2022, we have placed more than 1000 families and individuals in permanent housing. We are housing many more veterans than we had anticipated and our two visionary programs – The Stonewall Bridge care model and the Community Properties Portfolio housing model are steaming toward implementation in the next year.