Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center

Darius McLean, Director

trc_horiz.jpg

Located on the fourth floor of William Way LGBT Community Center, the Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center was dedicated in November 2019. Our mission is to connect our trans and gender non-conforming community to opportunities, services, resources, and each other to achieve our vision of a stronger, healthier, more equitable world for trans identified people and their allies.

Services

The Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center creates space for trans folks build community among each other. When we say trans, we are including our whole gender diverse family, all of those between the binary. We offer space for trans folks to run programs, prioritizing BIPOC community, we connect folks to resources, and support in navigating completing name change and updating other legal documents.

Please watch our social media channels for more information.

Programs

William Way LGBT Community Center offers a range of programs for trans and gender non-conforming community members. TransWay, a weekly drop-in social group, meets Thursdays at 7 pm. To join the group, please request membership in its Facebook group. CoffeeTalk is a social gathering for people who identify as trans, genderqueer or non-binary, and their allies, and meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 7 pm. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), an annual community gathering to remember and celebrate friends and loved ones lost to violence, takes place at the Center every year on November 20. Please see our Trans Programs page for more information.

In The News

Funding

The Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center has been assisted by generous funding from:

  • The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany

  • Macy's

  • Philly Aids Thrift @ Giovanni's Room

  • TD Charitable Foundation

Charlene Arcila (1963-2015)

Arcila_Charlene.jpg

Trans and HIV/AIDS activist Charlene Arcila moved to Philadelphia in 1991 from Jackson, Mississippi. She worked for The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium for over twenty years and was involved in numerous trans, HIV/AIDS, and recovery initiatives in the city and beyond. She was the founder of the internationally-known Philadelphia Trans Health Conference. She was instrumental in the overturning of SEPTA's gender marker policy, which led to the formation of the trans and allied activist group RAGE (Riders Against Gender Exclusion), and the eventual reversal in policy by SEPTA. Charlene was the recipient of numerous awards over her lifetime and she served as a deaconess and later ordained minister for Unity Fellowship of Christ Church.

Jaci Adams (1957-2014)

Adams_Jaci.jpg

Known to most as "Miss Jaci," trans and HIV/AIDS activist Jaci Adams was born in Beckley, West Virginia, and moved to Philadelphia with her family as a child. She began living on the street at the age of 9 and experienced poverty, childhood abuse, drug addiction and incarceration. Jaci served on the planning committees for Morris Home as well as for the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference. She was a founding member of the Temple University Community Advisory Board, and was the longest-serving member of the Philadelphia Police LGBT Liaison Committee. Jaci was named to POZ magazine's 100 Unsung Heroes and received Philly Pride’s first OutProud Transgender Award.