Valley Youth House and Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center announce that they have received a $250,000 partnership grant from the HIV Prevention & Care Project to launch a professionally-staffed LGBT youth empowerment program in Allentown, PA.

The program, which will be called Project Silk Lehigh Valley will provide every-day after school programs for LGBT youth, with a specific goal of reaching LGBT youth of color for HIV intervention purposes. The program will be housed in 2,000 square feet of dedicated program space at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, in the previously unoccupied first floor, which will be dedicated solely to youth programs.

The program is expected to begin in early 2017. This unique partnership builds on the expertise of Valley Youth House in providing emergency interventions and youth empowerment programs and the expertise of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in providing LGBT health programs. It also fills an unmet need in the Lehigh Valley to provide professionally-staffed direct, daily support outside of school for LGBT youth in the region.

Andrew Palomo, Valley Youth House Research & Evaluation Coordinator and Program Supervisor, stated, “This is a great opportunity to partner with the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center to provide programs to an under-served population in the Lehigh Valley.  This collaborative efforts remains true to Valley Youth House’s mission of being inclusive by providing services to all youth and will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the LGBTQ community in our area.”

Adrian Shanker, Executive Director of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, commented, “Addressing the needs of LGBT youth in our community is critical to our mission of supporting the local LGBT community. We are just thrilled to be launching this program, and we couldn’t be more pleased than to do it in partnership with Valley Youth House.”