He was director of the SafeGuards Gay Men's Health Project in Philadelphia from 1991–2001, where he developed innovative programs addressing the broader health needs of gay and bisexual men beyond HIV and AIDS. In his early research, he directed a survey of over 1400 gay and bisexual men in the Philadelphia region in order to assess their risk for HIV, STDs and other health challenges. The AIDS epidemic led Bartlett to become involved in the LGBT community due to personal friends dying of the disease. In 2003, Bartlett collaborated with gay activist Eric Rofes to create the Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy, a national center for excellence for leadership development of gay and bisexual men and their allies based at the White Crane Institute. The Academy hosts biannual retreats on the East Coast and the West Coast of the United States, and also works with organizations and governments to strengthen their cadres of gay leadership. Since Rofes' death, the program has been co-facilitated by Kevin Trimell Jones of Philadelphia, PA; Fred Lopez of San Francisco, CA; Scott Pegues of Denver, CO; and Kaijson Noilmar of Seattle, WA. In 2005, he directed the LGBT Community Assessment, which is an assessment of the broad health related needs of LGBT populations in the Philadelphia region. The City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Foundation subsequently funded an LGBT Youth Assessment, which he also directed. In 2008, Bartlett received a grant from the Arcus Foundation to create the LGBT Leadership Initiative, a convening of thinkers in the United States about the strategic leadership needs of LGBT communities in the United States. His leadership interests include intergenerational communication and connection, as well as mentorship of younger leaders. In the November, 2008 Instinct Magazine he was named one of the "Leading Men of 2008." Bartlett is also a long-time leader in the Gay Men's Health Movement, both nationally and internationally. He has participated in each of the Gay Men's Health Summits and LGBTI Health Summits as an organizer and presenter, as well as presenting at the Warning Gay Men's Health Summit in Paris, France, in 2005. His work has shown a continuing interest in participatory democracy, starting with his early participation in ACT UP Philadelphia. His current work focuses on the role of social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and other tools in developing on-line communities that can participate in effective social change. Out of his engagement in social media work, he hosted the TEDx conferences in Philadelphia on November 18, 2010 and November 8, 2011. In 2014, he presented his own TEDxPhilly talk, "How To Make the Neighborhood You Want", which shows the city planning lessons that Philadelphia's Chinatown has for its Gay neighborhood. He is a member of the Philadelphia circle of Radical Faeries. During his tenure at the William Way LGBT Community Center, he has focused on community building through arts and culture, technological innovation, and intergenerational approaches. He has been a leader in the effort to build housing that is friendly for LGBT seniors. In 2013 under Bartlett's leadership the community center has received grants to fund the nation's first LGBT Jazz Festival and a city-wide exploration of LGBT history in Philadelphia Bartlett is also involved in special projects outside of the center such as the celebration of ancestors. Bartlett created a project, a website, where all gay men who died of AIDS are remembered. The loved ones of those who passed can tell the stories of their friends, family members, etc. He has created an on-line Wiki to document the deaths of gay men from AIDS between 1981 and the present. The site acts as an on-line AIDS quilt. His writings include "Levity and Gravity" in Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore's Why are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots: Flaming Challenges To Masculinity, Objectification and the Desire to Conform which is a short essay on the impact of the AIDS epidemic on gay communities and the importance of remembering the histories of gay communities, and "Choosing Faerie" in Mark Thompson's The Fire in Moonlight: Stories from the Radical Faeries: 1975-2010.
Awards and Accomplishments
Rad Guy of the Year. 2015. Bartlett and the center received funding to do the first LGBT jazz festival in the United States. This is significant because it is an incredible opportunity to converse about the impact of LGBT people in jazz, have interactions between LGBT people and the African-American jazz communities.
