Nearly 40 percent of homeless youth are in sexual-orientation or gender-identity minority populations because of a lack of acceptance by their families. It is estimated that every year 300,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth will be on the streets for at least one night. Given the elevated risk for finding themselves suddenly without resources, LGBT teens and young adults need to be all the more vigilant about how they plan their financial future.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation believes that these numbers are far too high. For that reason we are excited to bring Financial February Presented by State Farm to Matthew’s Place for a second year. All this month we will be sharing expert opinions on preventing LGBT homelessness, exploring steps you can take if you find yourself homeless, and focusing our youth bloggers on how they are planning for their own financial futures.

Because few schools address financial education, we believe that setting aside this month to help you think about your financial future is a good investment of our time. We are glad to partner with State Farm to bring these resources to Matthew’s Place to add to the rich, diverse tools we offer our visitors.