View Comments New York City homeless centers that support LGBTQ youth grappled with how to help them while COVID-19 forced places to limit services or shut down altogether. Now, another citywide program will step in to fill the need. NYC Unity Works, an offshoot of the NYC Unity Project, aims to provide educational and employment opportunities for homeless and runaway LGBTQ youth. That population makes up about 40% of the city's homeless youth population, according to the Ali Forney Center, a nonprofit that partnered with Mayor Bill de Blasio's office to bring Unity Works to life. Unity Works' team found that no other workforce development program in the nation offers close to their scope of services, making it the most comprehensive in the nation, according to Ashe McGovern, executive director of the NYC Unity Project and senior LGBTQ policy adviser in the mayor’s office.