Delco now has its first community center for BIPOC, LGBTQ youth

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This Pride Month, Delaware County is celebrating a parade, a festival — and the opening of its first community center for BIPOC and LGBTQ youth.

Advocacy organization UDTJ, which organizes Delco Pride activities, opened the Upper Darby community center in February.

Kyle McIntyre, director of operations at the UDTJ community center, is also the logistics coordinator and one of the founders of Delco Pride. He said having resources for BIPOC and LGBTQ youth in Delco is a huge step forward from when he was growing up in Upper Darby.

Even though many Delco residents are close to Philadelphia, McIntyre said for young people who aren’t out to their parents or families, taking what could be a three-hour round trip into Philly to access services is difficult. McIntyre said he has lived the center leaders’ motto: “You become the resources that you wish you had growing up.”

“The ability that we have to connect so many people with resources and services from across the region is lifesaving,” McIntyre said. “It truly saves lives, improves their mental health, reduces social isolation.”

The center, which just passed its 100th day in operation, is an integral part of the organization’s mission, which extends far beyond the June events.

“We’re not just doing Pride as a one-off, right? Like we’re truly taking this as a comprehensive approach to connect people year-round with resources and services,” McIntyre said.

Services at the center include a referral network to connect people with mental health, recovery and/or housing services; a “Serving Delco” day at the center, where partner organizations offer their services for free; and several upcoming programs that will be launched this summer.

“There’s just so much lacking across the county, especially as it relates to BIPOC and LGBTQ youth, and then the intersectionalities between the two, we’ve found that almost everything that we’ve done always ends up relating to another,” McIntyre said. “So that’s why when you see our community center, why it says BIPOC, LGBTQ and youth, because they are almost always inseparable when it comes to the resources and services. Everyone needs housing, everyone needs community, everyone needs more peer support.”

McIntyre and fellow center directors Dyamond Gibbs and Kayla Cocci are working to reach Delco youth in local schools, on social media and via grassroots outreach. The response so far, he said, has been positive.

“For the first time, in a lot of youth, I see hope, which is such a rare emotion I feel these days, especially for youth, but they feel hopeful, at least in this regard … I see hope that change is coming and that they’re seen, and that they’re not being ignored anymore,” he said.

McIntyre said that although the community center is significant for year-round support, the significance and meaning of Delco Pride celebrations in June is also important.

Delco Pride started as a small festival in Upper Darby four years ago, but last year was the first time the celebration included a parade and expanded across the county with a parade in Media.

“Everybody was so excited and happy at the very first parade,” McIntyre said. “I know that there were people in the audience that were crying that never thought that they ever would see a parade for Pride in Media in their lifetime.”

This year, hundreds attended the Pride Parade in Media on June 2, and organizers expect hundreds more to attend the upcoming Pride Festival in Upper Darby on Saturday.

“The saying of, you know, Pride as a protest still rings true even today … When who you are is the function of your criminalization and oppression, being yourself becomes the act of resistance,” McIntyre said. “So in this case, having the visibility, having Pride, forces people to confront that incongruence in their head, or that inconsistency in their logic, that we are human. We don’t mean anyone any harm. We just want to be ourselves, love who we love, identify as we are and be ourselves without ridicule, criticism, discrimination, oppression and violence.”

Delco’s Pride Festival on Saturday in Upper Darby will feature more than 140 vendors and over 20 performances from 1–6 p.m. The new community center will be the centerpiece of the celebrations; people can come inside and check out resources and information from 2–5 p.m. McIntyre said the festival in Upper Darby, sponsored by the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in the Lehigh Valley and Aqua Pennsylvania, also serves as a chance to connect with the significant LGBTQ immigrant population in the neighborhood.

The community center is currently looking for donors, sponsors and volunteers. It’s located at 115 Fairfield Ave., second floor, Upper Darby, Pa., and is open Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those interested in learning more about the center and services offered can contact the center via email — UDTJorganization@gmail.com — or phone: 717-918-7014.