The Attic Youth Center seeks to create a safe, supportive, non-judgmental environment, where youth can share concerns about school, family, and friends, be themselves and take a step from loneliness, secrecy, and self-doubt into participation, belonging and self-confidence. By encouraging and supporting a process for youth leadership, The Attic validates the efforts of l/g/b/t/q youth to develop personal responsibility for their lives and communities.

The Attic’s vision is of a society of inclusion where all individuals are valued and respected — a community where all young people have access to the resources they need to grow into healthy, independent, productive, civic-minded community members. The Attic’s mission and vision are supported by our multifaceted approach to counteract the prejudice and oppression faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (l/g/b/t/q) youth through building community, reducing isolation, combating homophobia, promoting knowledge, providing access to resources, and developing leaders.

Description:
We begin by addressing the youth’s most fundamental needs such as food, clothing and safety. Services also include programs that address the youth’s psychological well-being and needs for nurturance, acceptance, support, and affiliation, and foster self-esteem through youth leadership development and competency building. The Attic provides an extensive range of specialized services for l/g/b/t/q youth, including: mental health services; prevention case management; transgender, psycho-educational and parent support groups; HIV testing and counseling; ABE/GED training; paid youth internships to facilitate job readiness; high-risk prevention programming; and an array of social, skills-building, artistic and community involvement programs which incorporate the empowerment principles of positive youth development. Throughout The Attic’s history, we have maintained a strong commitment to advocating for the needs of l/g/b/t/q youth by providing education and training for youth and youth service providers in a variety of settings. The Attic Speakers Bureau concentrates its efforts in Philadelphia and the Bryson Institute (a collaborative with faith based organizations) extends The Attic’s message into the surrounding suburban communities.

History:
The Attic Youth Center is Philadelphia's only agency exclusively serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (l/g/b/t/q) youth. Two student interns initiated The Attic in 1993 in the “attic” of a mainstream youth serving organization. Since its inception, The Attic has grown from a weekly support group into a comprehensive youth service agency and youth-run community center. Our new building, centrally located in Philadelphia, secures our role as an established provider of services to l/g/b/t/q youth. Over the past thirteen years, over 10,000 youth have benefited from Attic services. The Attic is one of only thirteen independent l/g/b/t/q youth centers nationally.

Contact person: Shushma Shah, Dir Of Dev, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (215) 545-5774

Address:

255 South 16th Street Phila, PA 19102 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.atticyouthcenter.org

Directions:

Please use the black ramp on the side of the building. We are located on 16th street between Spruce & Locuse. For maps or information, please see http://www.septa.com/

Miscellaneous Information

Are court referrals welcomed?
	Yes