Ruth Ellis Clairmont Center opens in Detroit for LGBTQ+ youth
(CBS DETROIT) - After seven years in the making, Mayor Mike Duggan, Congresswoman Rashida Talib and Council President Mary Sheffield were in attendance to open the new Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center in Detroit. They were joined by developers, Henry Ford Health and the community to open the $16 million development.
The center in Detroit's Piety Hill neighborhood at 61 Clairmount Street is a collaboration between the Ruth Ellis Center and Full Circle Communities Inc. The 45,540 square foot facility features 43 units of permanent supportive housing, community spaces designed to address barriers young LGBTQ+ people face, as well as a community health and wellness center.
City officials say the center is believed to be the first of its kind in the Midwest. Those services include:
- Primary care
- Comprehensive sexual health services
- PrEP
- HIV treatment
- Gender-affirming hormone therapies and other critical services.
According to the center, it is named in honor of a Detroiter who offered shelter and support "to those whose race, sexual orientation or both set them apart from the dominant culture beginning in the 1930s.
Officials say although the focus will be on assisting the city's LGBTQ+ community, anyone from other sexual orientations who need the center's services will not be turned away.
