The Albert Kennedy Trust is a voluntary organisation based in England, created in 1989 to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) young people who are homeless, living in a hostile environment or in housing crisis. It started in Greater Manchester in 1989 and opened in London in 1996.
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The Trust is named after Albert Kennedy (January 31, 1973 - April 30, 1989), a 16-year-old Social Services care leaver from Manchester. He died after falling from a car park roof in Manchester city centre, while being chased by several attackers in a car. Albert was a runaway from a children's home in Salford.
Manchester’s gay community was moved into action by the Trust’s founder patron Cath Hall, a heterosexual foster carer who admitted she could not meet the full range of needs of LGBT young people in her care.
As a result, the Albert Kennedy Trust [1] was formed in 1990.
The trust was founded on the premise that young LGBT people needed somewhere to go if they were kicked out of their parental home or the care system. Volunteers (single people, couples and families) with a spare room can give an LGBT young person a home, from a few nights to two years. All carers are assessed and trained to ensure they are appropriate and able to take on these roles. There is also a bank of trained volunteer Mentors and Befrienders, who can spend a couple of hours a week with an LGBT young person who needs a friendly ear or practical support.
The Trust also provided services in Brighton starting in 2003, but due to funding issues had to withdraw from the city in May 2006.[2].
It has traditionally gained funding through individual donations and grants from such bodies as Association of London Government, Comic Relief, the Princess Diana Memorial Fund, and Manchester City Council [3].
The Trust marked its 16th anniversity of formally becoming a Trust in June 2006 with a House of Lords reception by Patron Lord Alli. The occasion was also marked by an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons [4].
The Trust currently employs a Chief Executive, two placement workers and an administrative team.
On January 5, 2007, Sir Ian McKellen became a patron of the trust, joining existing patrons Julie Hesmondhalgh and Lord Alli.
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