At the Lost-n-Found Youth Center in Atlanta, 21-year-old Ian Woodard sits among homeless youth who sleep on the couches within separate cubicles. Several months ago, Woodard slept with this facility’s security, but he now has a place to call home along with an optimistic outlook.
Woodard was one of more than 900 homeless youth in Atlanta to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a 2015 assessment led by Georgia State University.
For six months, he moved between sleeping at his friend’s houses or across the Atlanta area. But through Lost-n-Found, an organization that works to end LGBTQ homelessness, Woodard is sheltered through their housing program while working as a food runner in the city.
“I was house-hopping, going from one friend’s house to another friend’s house, venturing out to Midtown, going Downtown back to Smyrna,” Woodard says. “So it was a lot of traveling, a lot of discomfort and unawareness in regards to where I was going to lay my head or where my next meal was going to come from.”
Couch-surfing is among the three leading situations that youth have been in upon intake, the organization claimed in 2016. Nasheedah Muhammud, the director of operations, says they serve youth unable to receive services from others due to their LGBTQ background.
“Often it’s difficult for our young people to seek help from organizations that don’t have experience working with LGBT youth either because they just haven’t had the opportunity or because they’ve chosen not to,” Muhammud says. “And so that’s why we exist.”
Woodard grew up in Kennesaw, Georgia, with a family that follows the Seventh-day Adventist church. Woodard says this led to household rules that did not allow him to be out from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.
“So any football game was out of the picture. Major basketball games are out of the picture. You’re social progression and development takes place Fridays and Saturdays. So for me to not be able to go, it was intense,” Woodard says.
After graduating from high school, Woodard’s parents wanted him to enroll in college or the army while still following the household rules. This led Woodard to leave.
“That was a major, major rule that I at some point decided I couldn’t abide by,” Woodard says. “They wanted me to ultimately be in college or the military, and that was not something that I ultimately wanted to pursue at that time.”
While homeless, Woodard encountered challenges on an ongoing basis.
“Just not knowing where it was I was going to receive my next shower from, not knowing where my next meal was going to come from, before coming here. Those were mainly the issues that I had,” Woodard says.
Through a friend’s help, Woodard discovered the organization where he would receive assistance with food, apparel and security for the next six months.
“I had assistance with a friend who was helping me at the time, and they took it upon themselves to look-up non-profit organizations and just overall support systems that were capable to provide necessities that I needed at the time,” Woodard says.
As eighteen community-based flags hang down the building walls, Woodard shares a conversation with staff members. He lives life with a community behind his back and with what he calls an “ambitious” future ahead.
Note: This story was published on PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
