AKT’s Mission is:

To ensure that all lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people are able to live in accepting, supportive and caring homes, by providing a range of services to meet the individual needs of those who would otherwise be homeless or living in a hostile environment.

We aim to do this by:

• Providing appropriate homes through supported lodgings, fostering and other specialist housing schemes.
• Enabling young people to manage independent living successfully.
• Improving attitudes within society towards lesbian, gay and bisexual young people.

To support our work all our staff, trustees, carers, mentors & volunteers are committed to:

• Delivering flexible and responsive services centred on the needs of LGBT young people.
• Engaging, supporting and nurturing LGBT young people.
• Providing accessible, safe and positive environments that are respectful of difference and diversity.
• Pioneering and innovative services to meet real need.
• Good communication and participation throughout the organisation and valuing and encouraging the contributions of all those involved. Excellence and best practice.
• Working in an open and honest manner, where trust is earned and given.
• Working as a team.Challenging perception both internally and externally.

And doing the above with passion, energy and enthusiasm.

Why Support AKT?

The Crisis around LGBT Youth Homeless

Despite 10 years of progressive LGB legislation which has enabled young LGBT people to feel more confident to come out at an early age – the reality is that when they do they are still greeted with the same level of homophobia & transphobia at home or school experienced 20 years ago when AKT was established in response to Albert Kennedy’s death...

Facts from AKT (2008)

• 1,400 requests for support (to our tiny organisation across Manchester & London)
• 55% of the young people who contact us in London are in need of emergency accommodation. We currently cannot meet this demand for carer households and our service is bursting at the seams.
• 85% of our young people have faced some level of rejection by their parents just for being brave enough to come out and be who they are.  Previously research has suggested only 14% of LGBT young people have been rejected by their care giver.
• Over 2/3 of AKT young men have been offered sex or been forced to offer sex to get a bed for the night

Many of our young people will not use mainstream provision for fear of homophobia or transphobia from other service users or even the service itself.

AKT has developed some trailblazing partnerships with: Salford, Manchester & London Boroughs & Councils and Housing Trusts such as Knowsely,Trafford & Havering; who support our work to ensure mainstream services meet the needs of LGBT people.

AKT has recently launched it’s ‘Making a Difference’ scheme – a quality mark which is designed to help mainstream housing and homelessness services provide a service which supports LGBT young people. This is a response to our recent research report which showed a disparity in service provision for LGBT young people.

Recent stories in the press

• London September 2008: 15 year old left paralysed after homophobic attack in Shoreditch
• Manchester October 2008: 18 year old man commits suicide after a string of vicious homophobic calls from his peers to his home (despite support of his parents)
• Derby October 2008:  Young man jumps from top of building in desperation after experiencing constant homophobia. Youths take pictures on their phone and taunt him as he falls to his death

Jigsaw - Putting the pieces together for homeless LGBT people

The Albert Kennedy Trust works in close partnership with Jigsaw. Jigsaw is a London initiative, funded for four years by London Councils to reduce LGBT youth homelessness. The project brings together Stonewall Housing, the Albert Kennedy Trust, PACE and Galop to provide a network of services for LGBT young people. It is a pioneering initiative to create a ‘seamless’ approach to preventing LGBT youth homelessness. Basically, by putting the pieces together, making a clearer picture of the portfolio of support available, Jigsaw will increase accessibility into a range of services and help better meet the needs of young people. It’s the first time this type of joint working has been adopted to reduce LGBT youth homelessness. Although London-specific in its delivery Jigsaw it is a nationally significant pioneering initiative. Jigsaw is already achieving positive outcomes by putting the pieces together for young people. For more information please visit the Jigsaw Website.