The Los Angeles LGBT Center, formerly the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, has announced that it has raised $19 million toward a fundraising campaign goal of $25 million to help expand services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The funds will be used to expand the organization's services in Los Angeles and more than double the number of beds for homeless LGBT youth at its current facility, provide more than a hundred units of affordable housing for low-income seniors and young adults, and create a senior center. Gifts made during the quiet phase of the campaign included a lead gift of $6.5 million from Anita May Rosenstein through the Anita May Rosenstein, Wilbur May, and Anita & Arnold Rosenstein Family foundations. Other commitments include a $2 million pledge by Ariadne Getty and the UK-based Fuserna Foundation and pledges of $1 million from David J. Bailey and Ron B. Shalowitz; Jacinto Hernandez and Charles Callahan; Barry McCabe; Loren S. Ostrow and Brian Newkirk; and William and Cindy Shopoff.

"My grandparents taught us that 'family values' mean you give back to your community," said Rosenstein, great-granddaughter of the founder of the May Department Stores Company. "If you can give, you must give. And because the center has an unmatched record of effective programs to help make the world a better place for LGBT people, this isn’t just a gift, it's a solid investment in the entire community's future. I’m especially proud to support their innovative approach of combining services for youth and seniors on one campus. They’ve seen the great synergies that this can create."

According to the LALGBT Center, which also announced its name change this week, 40 percent of the six thousand youth living on the streets of Los Angeles are LGBT, and the demand for the organization's beds and services is at an all-time high. In addition, the number of clients served by the center’s Senior Services department has tripled over the last three years, in part because LGBT seniors are less likely than their heterosexual counterparts to have children or grandchildren to care for them, are more likely to be poor, and often encounter discrimination in traditional senior facilities.

"The center has always risen to the occasion for our community — relentlessly finding ways to build the health and strength of LGBT people when few others had the interest or ability to do so," said CEO Lorri L. Jean. "Now that the demand for services and housing for LGBT youth and seniors is acute, it’s time for us to step up again. I’m enormously grateful to the many donors who have done the same, especially to longtime center supporter Anita May Rosenstein for her historic gift, enormous generosity and faith in the center."