AFC’s Carl Siciliano addresses the July 20 press conference, with Councilmember Corey Johnson, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club president Allen Roskoff, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, and State Senator Brad Hoylman in the foreground. | GAY CITY NEWS
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE | Using a $3.3 million grant from the City Council, the Ali Forney Center (AFC) will renovate an East Village brownstone and open a residence for homeless queer youth there in late summer of 2016.
“The last 13 years have been extraordinary,” Carl Siciliano, AFC’s founder and executive director, said at a July 20 event marking the start of the renovation of the East 13th Street facility. “Our community has woken up to the need to help our LGBTQ youth.”
On June 29, AFC, which was founded in 2002, purchased the building for a dollar from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The City Council money, which was originally budgeted in 2012, will pay for the renovation. Because AFC owns the building, cash for operations from two grants the agency has with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development can go toward services as opposed to paying rent.
East Village brownstone to house 18 by mid-2016, named for group’s late benefactor Bea Arthur
“It’s the first building we own, which is a real game changer,” said Alex Roque, AFC’s director of development.
The 18-bed residence is named for actress Bea Arthur, who left $300,000 to AFC in her will. Arthur died in 2009. The beds will add to AFC’s existing inventory of 89 beds and another 18 that are expected to come online in the fall.
The city took over the building in a tax foreclosure action in 1991. It has fallen into disrepair since then. The front of the building is closed off with a chain link fence and the interior, which is largely inaccessible and will be gutted, shows significant deterioration. While New Yorkers are known for generally supporting social services agencies as long as they are serving clients in someone else’s neighborhood, this facility was welcome.
The empty East 13th Street brownstone that the Ali Forney Center will renovate to provide housing for 18 LGBTQ homeless youth. | GAY CITY NEWS
“I know the residents on this block are happy there’s going to be a beautiful new building on this block,” said Steve Herrick, executive director of the Cooper Square Committee, a non-profit that develops affordable housing and other facilities. The committee partnered with AFC in developing the facility.
The groundbreaking included references to “Golden Girls,” a television series that aired from 1985 through 1992 and starred Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, and “Maude,” a television series that starred Arthur that ran from 1972 through 1978. Cheesecake, which was an ongoing bit on “Golden Girls,” was served following the groundbreaking.
“This is going to be an incredible tribute to [Arthur] and her compassion,” said City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, an out lesbian who represents the East Village.
Mendez was joined by City Councilmember Corey Johnson, who heads the Council’s LGBT caucus, and State Senator Brad Hoylman, who constitutes an LGBT caucus of one in that body.
“This is the conscience of our community,” Hoylman said. “We need to look after the kids who are coming after us.”
Johnson, who noted that Arthur’s character in “Golden Girls” was his favorite among the four leads, had a similar comment.
“This is more than a building, this is more than bricks and mortar, this is a beacon of hope,” he said.
