Safe haven
Pursuing what he loves while also making an impact in social justice has been the guiding principle for Penn senior Brendan Taliaferro.
Last summer he interviewed more than two dozen people for his grant-funded research on Philadelphia homeless youth who identify as LGBTQ. The discoveries became his capstone project as a Penn Civic Scholar…
New Philly ‘Host Home’ program aims to slash LGBTQ youth homelessness, shelter costs
The Homeward Initiative, in partnership with local LGBTQ nonprofit Attic Youth Center, will serve queer young people ages 18-24, said Brendan Taliaferro, out gay man and founder and CEO of the upcoming Host Home project. The one-year pilot program will serve roughly a dozen young people who use services at the Attic or Valley Youth House…
9 Penn students win big prizes to fund projects to promote social change
Growing up “in the closet” in the small town of Lilburn, Ga., in a devout Catholic family, Brendan Taliaferro struggled with his identity as a gay man.
The experience inspired the University of Pennsylvania senior to collaborate with local organizations…
Promazo Profile on 40 ‘most interesting’ students
What inspired your idea for Host Homes for LGBTQ Youth:
The idea for my project arose from a thesis I wrote on the resources available for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. I have a personal connection with the issue of LGBTQ youth homelessness, and after spending nine months researching the situation in Philadelphia, I desperately wanted to do something to help.
The Recent Penn Grad on a Mission to Help LGBTQ Homeless Youth
Brendan Taliaferro, a 2019 graduate of University of Pennsylvania. Taliaferro, one of Penn’s nine President’s Engagement Prize winners for 2019, is using the $100,000 grant to bring his passion project to life: Homeward Initiative, a host home system for queer homeless youth. The initiative is now beginning to seek hosts willing to house a young person for three to six months.
Homeward Initiative takes on the challenge of supporting homeless LGBTQ youth
The new nonprofit has a name: The Homeward Initiative. And Penn May graduate Brendan Taliaferro has his new business cards as its founder and director.