Statements
Mission
The Mission of Nashville Launch Pad is to create a network of temporary, safer, street-free sleeping shelters for unhoused young adults which are open and affirming to LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies.
Background
Nashville Launch Pad is dedicated to serving young people experiencing homelessness, created specifically to be LGBTQ+ affirming. Launch Pad was started in 2014 and was run solely by volunteers and provided shelter for youth one to two nights per week. Launch Pad received 501(c)(3) designation in 2016 and has increased our capacity consistently with each season. By the time the COVID-19 pandemic struck Nashville in 2020, shelter operations were in place 6-7 nights per week and shifted to a hotel model through spring of 2021.
Every winter night that we are open, we provide a warm place, a safe night's sleep, dinner, breakfast, weekly bus passes, hygiene supplies, basic clothing, and access to showers and medical supplies for up to 20 young people, 25 if there is a significant weather event. Additionally, guests are connected with peer community, support, and necessary community resources. Launch Pad operates a host site model for winter congregant shelter; we do not have a single location, but rather run the shelter out of different spaces during the season. These have included St. Augustine's Chapel at Vanderbilt University, West End UMC, City Road Chapel UMC, East End UMC, Calvary UMC, Connection UMC, Donelson Heights UMC, Belmont UMC, and Ray of Hope Community Church. Our shelter is staffed mainly by trained volunteers and an experienced site supervisor. Our seasonal staff work the shelter overnight to ensure safety for all guests.
In the fall of 2021, Launch Pad instituted a pilot program for emergency housing using apartments to house up to 12 guests in single site model where guests could establish greater stability and routine. This grew to include daytime shelter and staffing in 2022 as well. In late summer 2022 the apartment based emergency housing moved to an independent-supported model that honors the journey of growth and sovereignty that these young adults deserve to become self-sufficient members of community under the direction of Micah Sciarrapa, MPA, Program Director, and then interim Executive Director, H.G. Stovall who joined the staff in August and July respectively. Launch Pad exists because young LGBTQ+ people are still at higher risk for abuse, sexual assault, substance abuse, family rejection, poverty, and homelessness. Launch Pad is the only shelter in Nashville that specifically serves 18+ youth, and one of very few that are vocally open and affirming for LGBTQ+ induvials.
Impact
Accomplishments:
- Winter emergency shelter returned on Nov. 1, 2022 and housed 76 individuals
- Since 2014, we have provided more than 20,000 nights of safer sleep to displaced young adults
- In our 2022-2023 season more than 1,500 hours of volunteer support were given to staff shelter, and other needs
- 85% of our guests last season went into a positive placement at the end of the season on Apr. 1
- In summer 2023 our volunteer empowerment series launched giving deeper insight into the needs of our guests
Goals fro 2023-2024:
- We plan to open a 24/7 transitional shelter in 2023
- We hope to institute health benefits for staff in 2023
- We hope to increase case management staffing
Needs
Nashville Launch Pad's top 5 most pressing needs are as follows:
- Launch Pad needs additional funding to provide a full-time case manager to assist our Program Director in supporting guests in winter emergency shelter, independent-supported living, and after-care programs.
- Launch Pad additionally needs to provide dinner and breakfast to our guests for every night of shelter. We house up to 25 guests a night. Some of these meals are paid for and prepared by volunteers. Based on last season's food costs as well as the amount we were able to get provided by volunteers, we need $15,000 for meals.
- Volunteers - we can only run with volunteers, whose invaluable and dedicated work includes staffing the shelter, doing laundry, providing meals, leading donation drives, and more.
- We anticipate starting a capital campaign in the coming years, in order to have a permanent site where we can offer shelter 7 nights a week, year-round, as well as incorporate additional outreach services and programs.
CEO Statement
My name is H.G. Stovall (he/him/his) and I am honored to serve as Executive Director of Nashville Launch Pad. Launch Pad is a crucial source of safe temporary housing for young people in the Metro Nashville area. I was in the room at OutCentral in 2014 when we learned as a community that this need was not being met. It has been my great joy to directly be a part of this vital work since I joined the board of directors in June of 2019. I am pleased to bring my experience in non-profit leadership to Launch Pad as my full-time focus as of July 1, 2022.
Young people are more likely to experience homelessness and less likely to know that they are experiencing homelessness. They are also less likely to understand or utilize services that are available to them. Our partnership with Oasis Center and others provides connectivity to our shelter program.
Young people often distrust authority figures at traditional shelters, feel unsafe or unsure around adults that are much older, feel ignored, and dislike the rigidity of traditional shelters. Launch Pad has an important role in the community in working with our guests to build a shelter environment that understands and supports their needs for safety, flexibility, patience, and empathy. Our guests appreciate the ability to sleep next to their partners, have their identities affirmed, and work with the staff to find solutions to conflicts. We are proud to offer safety and community to our guests, and to create an environment where, as one guest said in our 2018 focus group, "Other places will kick you out but here they give you chances. I go to [another shelter] and I feel like it's the end, when I come here I feel young and like I still have a chance."
Since 2014, over 1,500 young adults have experienced more than 20,000 nights of safer sleep as well as the care, concern, and where they can be or discover their authentic self. In 2020 we responded to COVID by implementing a hotel model that resulted in zero COVID infections among our guests. In the fall of 2021, we began a pilot program that used apartments to continue offering safety while increasing the level of community and socialization that many of us had come to miss. Those innovations gave birth to our independent-supported living program.
We are grateful that YOU have made the work of Nashville Launch Pad possible!
Board Chair Statement
In May of 2019, we undertook strategic planning for our next 3-5 years for the first time and that coincided with our receipt of a major one-year grant for $100,000 from A Community Thrives/USA Today/Gannett Foundation. The Nashville community has been very generous and supportive making it possible for us to move towards sustainability with individual donors and to become an organization that will serve Nashville's most vulnerable populations for years to come. As someone who has been with Nashville Launch Pad since 2017, first as a volunteer and then joining the board in 2018, I was so grateful that we were able to provide housing throughout the pandemic. We continue to evolve in very exciting ways so that we can better serve our community. In 2022, after launching a pilot temporary housing program, we have evolved into a supported independent living program for our guests. We hope to be able to expand this program as we also launch into our regular shelter program in the winter where we hope to provide even more people with street-free sleep that is open and affirming to the LGBTQ+ young adults. Thank you for supporting our guests and a belief that all deserve a safe place to sleep.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Housing, Shelter - Homeless Shelters |
| Secondary Category: | Human Services - LGBT Centers |
| Tertiary Category: | Food, Agriculture & Nutrition - Congregate Meals |
Areas Served
We continue to see young people come from around middle Tennessee and will begin to track last place of stable housing to better understand those we serve.
| TN - Davidson |
| Local |
