Pop singer and Celebrity Apprentice Cyndi Lauper is planning on opening a shelter in New York for LGBT young people.
Lauper, who campaigns for equality and has been an advocate with her True Colors Fund, says the shelter in Harlem will be called True Colors Residence. Her plan is to support people between the ages of 18 and 24 who have been rejected by their families because of their gender identity or sexuality.
"Kids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they're still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets. We need to make sure we're taking care of them. This is the next generation of the LGBT community," Lauper said in a statement.
The six-story center will contain 30 rooms, a library, a computer room and a communal space. Residents will pay rent based on income.
True Colors Residence is the vision of Lauper, her publicist Lisa Barbaris, and Colleen Jackson, executive director of the West End Intergenerational Residence on the Upper West Side in New York.
Organizers hope the shelter will be operational by winter 2011.
The start-up cost is estimated at $11 million and the True Colors Fund and New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development will provide most of the funding. Additional funds will be raised from corporate donations.
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