“Lambert House gives me a place where I can comfortably be other than home.”
Since 1981 the Lambert House LGBTQ Youth Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated over 15,000 individual minors and young adults through over 500,000 service contacts. Lambert House was founded by a University of Washington child and adolescent medicine clinic director to address the physical and mental health disparities experienced by LGBTQ+ youth. Ten years later a group of dedicated individuals at Lambert House opened the first non-collegiate daily drop-in center for LGBTQ youth in the United States.
Today, our employees and 123 skilled weekly volunteers provide in-person and online programs to more LGBTQ+ youth than any other organization in the Northwestern United States. Long known as Seattle’s LGBTQ youth center, Lambert House is the only social service agency in Seattle and King County, WA, (Pop. 2.25 million) dedicated solely to LGBTQ+ youth. Its programs also draw youth nationally and internationally.
Since 2020, Lambert House’s online programs have drawn LGBTQ+ youth living in 28 U.S. states, and in 10 countries on six continents. Seventy percent (70%) of the youth are minors, ages 10 – 17; Thirty percent (30%) are young adults, ages 18 - 22. International participants are mostly youth of color. The percentage of local racial and ethnic minority youth and staff exceeds the racial and ethnic minority composition of Seattle and King County where Lambert House is headquartered.
Lambert House’s programs and services are evidence-based and informed by Positive Youth Development Theory and Minority Stress Theory. Our work spans eight categories: 1) Social Connection, Peer Support, Resilience, and Self-Esteem Building; 2) Family Success, Bullying Resistance and School Retention; 3) Mentoring; 4) Homeless Services including Meals, Clothing, Personal Hygiene Items, and LGBTQ-Competent Housing, Medical, and Mental Health Referrals; 5) HIV and STI Prevention Education, and Violence Prevention through Healthy Relationships Education; 6) Culture, Sports, and Outdoor Recreation; 7) Youth Leadership, Workplace Skills Development, and Academic Internships, and; 8) Systems Advocacy and Training for Professionals (from 30 countries to date).
Lambert House is a force against prejudice in the effort to build a world in which LGBTQ+ minors and young adults are healthy and safe, and command equality in their families, schools, and communities.