William Way welcomes new executive director

With the start of the new fiscal year next month, Christopher Bartlett will join the William Way LGBT Community Center as executive director. He currently serves as the interim co-director of the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund. And Bartlett has decades of experience working with LGBT Philadelphians.

Bartlett graduated from Brown University with a classics degree in 1988 and continued his education at the New College at Oxford University with a BA in ancient history and philosophy in 1991. Shortly after returning to the United States, Bartlett became the director of the SafeGuards Gay Men's Health Project in Philadelphia and maintained that position until 2001. Since then, Bartlett has worked on many LGBT programs. These include the LGBT Leadership Initiative, the LGBT Community Assessment, the Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy and the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

Bartlett told EDGE that he is eager to bring his knowledge and experience in advancing William Way which is currently undertaking a five-year strategic plan.

"I'm eager to think about what it means to have a 21st century LGBT community center that takes advantage of cutting edge programs including social media, outreach to LGBT people of all generations, and social and advocacy opportunities-all connected in ways that the community can take full advantage of the center," he said.

With an interest in using Twitter and Facebook to advance social progress, Bartlett created an online wiki to document the deaths of gay men from 1981 to the present. In addition, he is particularly interested in creating forums for inter-generational communication both online and in person.

"We recently received funding for senior programming and we have marvelous support groups for men and women as well as outreach programs to LGBT seniors who are unable to leave their apartments," said Bartlett. "Those programs are really providing us with a connection to a whole new generation of LGBT folks who have not connected in the past. I'm also really interested in inter-generational organizing-opportunities to bring together LGBT youth adults and elders so that they can learn from each other, share skills, and have fun. I think often we lose the wisdom of elders and we also lose the energy of youth. By bringing together those two powerful forces the community center will have an impact on numerous places throughout the city."

Bartlett also plans to work with LGBT people of color, transgender Philadelphians and other diverse groups to make sure their needs are being met and their voices are heard. He is confident William Way will become a base for organizing these groups and their allies.

While Bartlett looks forward to begin work at William Way, he is grateful for his experience at DVLF. He plans to collaborate with the fund as well as the many other LGBT organizations in Philadelphia.

"It's been a wonderful opportunity for me to support DVLF and making resources available to our community for community outreach, for arts and culture, and for seniors and youth," Bartlett said on leaving DVLF. "In some ways it's a really nice way for me to view the work of DVLF as an incredible partner to William way as well as many other organizations in the city. I definitely see it as a transition."