The Attic Youth Center will honor one of its most pioneering supporters and the namesake of its longstanding outreach and education program.
The Attic will pay tribute to Jim Bryson, after whom The Bryson Institute for Sexual and Gender Diversity Education is named, at 5 p.m. April 17 at the facility.
Founded in 2000, The Bryson Institute provides training and other education efforts on LGBT issues to adults and youth throughout the region.
Bryson laid the framework for the agency shortly after the murder of Wyoming gay college student Matthew Shepard. Carrie Jacobs, executive director of The Attic, said Bryson was so affected by Shepard’s murder that he reached out to various local faith communities — such as Lutheran Children and Family Service, Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Greater Philadelphia and Episcopal Community Services — to assist him in trying to stem the tide of antigay violence.
In 2000, Bryson connected with Jacobs, who was eager to jump on board.
“At the time, we were feeling that it was great that we could offer this safe space for the youth, but we were concerned about their safety once they left The Attic,” she said. “We had started a speaker’s bureau to go out and train folks, but what was different about what Jim was doing was that it put more of a focus on actually affecting institutions, making real institutional change.”
Since becoming a program of The Attic 10 years ago, The Bryson Institute has now trained more than 30,000 individuals: teachers, principals, students and those involved in faith communities throughout the tri-state area.
Bryson director Michelle Kline, who’s been at the helm of the agency for about three years, said the organization’s work has opened countless eyes to the obstacles faced by LGBT people.
“We try to create safe spaces for folks to talk about some very taboo topics — even basic things like what does ‘LGBT’ stand for or what people’s views on sexual orientation or gender identity are,” Kline said. “There are no stupid questions and no judgment on our part with what people bring to the table, in terms of their beliefs or where they are in relation to the topic. And we try to incorporate storytelling, which I think is one of the most powerful pieces of work we do. There has to be a personal connection for folks to take our message to heart, so to hear from people the discrimination they’ve faced helps them understand that this really is happening to real people.”
Jacobs noted that The Bryson Institute’s current work would not have been possible without those early efforts by Bryson, who was also a founding board member of the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund and ActionAIDS and has also done extensive work with the local and national Human Rights Campaign, among many other LGBT organizations.
“He’s the type of person who goes somewhere and starts something and then walks away and serves as that spark that starts new things happening that are really positive for the community,” Jacobs said. “He’s really quite a guy and a really important part of our community.”
Bryson, who has also been one of the main funders of the institute in the past decade, was a valuable mentor to Kline when she began her work with The Attic. She said she’s eager to show her appreciation for the role he played in her own growth, as well as that of innumerable others in the region.
“Jim has had an impact on a lot of different people and organizations, and I think it’s important that when you have folks in the community who give their time and support, that we celebrate that,” she said. “A lot of times in social services, people are always just working, working, working and not thinking about the big picture, but Jim did look at the big picture and played a very important role in it.”
Tickets to the tribute, which will be held at The Attic, 255 S. 16th St., are $20 and admission will include dinner and drinks. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Bryson Institute.
Guests will be able to place bids in an auction in which the prizes are actual repairs to The Attic’s building. Those in attendance can bid to have their contribution go towards such projects as the repainting of certain rooms, the purchase of such new appliances as an air condition or refrigerator and the replacement of carpeting and certain doors.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.atticyouthcenter.org, e-mail [email protected] or call (215) 545-4331.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].