Monday on “First Coast Connect” we discussed the problem of homelessness among youths in the LBGTQ community with Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network executive director Cindy Watson; Dawn Gilman, chief executive officer of Changing Homelessness Inc.; and Kim Sirdevan, president and chief executive officer of the Youth Crisis Center. Flamingo Magazine publisher Jamie Rich told us what we’ll find in the spring edition of the publication and JTC Running president Larry Roberts gave us a preview of Saturday’s 40th edition of the Gate River Run.
Homeless LBGTQ Youth
In Jacksonville, 60 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. That is higher than the national average, which is about 40 percent. A coalition has been formed with the goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020. Homeless LGBTQ kids now have more services available through the coalition, including a building donated to JASMYN adjacent to its campus at Peninsular Place and Chelsea Street in Riverside.
Flamingo Magazine
The spring issue of Flamingo hits newsstands this week and will featurestories ranging from sea turtles to a look at vintage Lilly Pulitzer designs and where they came from, to a profile of FSU's Bobby Bowden and much more.
40th Gate River Run
This is the 40th year for the race and there are a group of people called streakers, the 41 people that have run in every race since its inception. They held a Retro River Run on March 4. Only 2,204 people were allowed people in that race, which was the number of people who ran the very first River Run. Saturday’s River Run is expected to include 20,000 participants. It’s the largest 15K race in the country. Also, JTC Running Club recently made $40,000 of improvements to trails and bridges at Tomahawk Park with money raised at the Gate River Run
Producer Kevin Meerschaert can be reached at kmeerschaert@wjct.org, 904-358-6334 or on Twitter at @KMeerschaertJax.
