ALLENTOWN, Pa. — LGBTQ youth program Project Silk soon will move from its current location the Bradbury-Sullivan Center.
Bradbury-Sullivan Interim Executive Director Bill McGlinn said he terminated the lease for the program because, while the center is host to Project Silk in its building, it has no control over its programming.
Project Silk will move to Hamilton Business Center, 1101 Hamilton St., Suite 102, according to a news release from Valley Youth House, the nonprofit that runs the program.
- Project Silk will move from its current location in Bradbury-Sullivan Center to the Hamilton Business Center
- Bradbury-Sullivan Interim Executive Director Bill McGlinn terminated the lease with Project Silk because the center no longer had a say in its programming
- Bradbury-Sullivan Center will revamp its youth programming after Project Silk’s move
The new location will open on Jan. 17.
“We look forward to continuing our inclusive, safe, and welcoming programming in our new space,” the release said.
Project Silk is a drop-in program for LGBTQ youth ages 14 to 29. It offers services such as access to HIV and STI testing, peer support, counseling, food and emergency supplies.
The program started in 2016 as a collaboration between Bradbury-Sullivan Center and Valley Youth House, a Bethlehem-based nonprofit that provides emergency shelters, transitional housing, street outreach and other programs for vulnerable youth.
Bradbury-Sullivan terminates lease
During an earlier news conference, Bradbury-Sullivan's McGlinn said Project Silk used to be a collaboration between Bradbury-Sullivan Center and Valley Youth House.
“I felt uncomfortable with that because we didn't have any representation in the programming. I had no sense of really what was going on."Bradbury-Sullivan Interim Executive Director Bill McGlinn
But after funding changes, Bradbury-Sullivan Center became less involved in Project Silk’s programming.
In July, a staff member who was serving as a liaison between Project Silk and the center left. Valley Youth House has independently operated Project Silk since then.
“I felt uncomfortable with that because we didn't have any representation in the programming, I had no sense of really what was going on,” McGlinn said.
“And I didn't like the idea that young people from our community were coming into this building, receiving a program, thinking it was taking place in the Bradbury-Sullivan Center.”
Bradley-Sullivan Communications Associate Braden Hudak said in an email that he is glad there now will be multiple places in the Lehigh Valley to which LGBTQ youth can go for support.
“We look forward to continuing to partner with Project Silk Lehigh Valley wherever possible and, of course, referring LGBTQ youth and young adults to the critical services this program provides,” Hudak said.
Hudak said the move also will give both organizations the space to develop their own identities and youth programming.
The future of Bradbury-Sullivan youth programming
McGlinn said in a news conference that the center will revamp its youth programming after Project Silk’s move. He said he wants the center’s new programs to help LGBTQ youth be holistically healthy.
“I really wanted people to stop thinking of our LGBTQ youth, viewing them as, ‘Oh my God, you're so resilient,’" McGlinn said. "And then what? Great, you're resilient. So where are we taking people beyond the acclaim of resiliency?”
Last month, the Bradbury-Sullivan Center announced what McGlinn called the “centerpiece” of its new youth programming: a new coffee shop and gathering space called Pride Café. The café would hold community events and a career readiness program for LGBTQ youth.
Former State Sen. Pat Browne secured the rest of the funding needed for the café, so the next phase of the project is to solicit bids from companies to manage the construction of the café.
McGlinn said Pride Café likely will open in 2024.
