THE YOUNG BLACK MOTIVATED KINGS AND QUEENS DE’AVRY A. THOMAS COMMUNITY CENTER RECEIVED A HEFTY GRANT FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. IT WAS CELEBRATED ON MAY 29 AT THE CENTER. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Just when they say there’s nothing for the kids to do in the summertime, there’s at least 130 young people having good, clean fun and being reinforced positive messages in Penn Hills.
The Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens De’Avry A. Thomas Community Center is up and running at 7300 Ridgeview Avenue. But there’s much more to do for the center, which formerly was the Lincoln Park Community Center before Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens, the organization, purchased the building in 2023.
On May 29, the organization’s members, supporters and some elected officials celebrated another milestone for the center, in the form of a $1 million RACP, or Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, grant, from the state of Pennsylvania. Presented by state Sen. Jay Costa and state Rep. Joe McAndrew, the money will be used to renovate the community center’s gym and the center’s HVAC units.
Kahlil Darden is the force behind Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens. He’s a 2019 Penn Hills High School graduate, a 2024 Clark Atlanta University graduate, and tireless community voice for the youth and young adults of the region.
He received the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Fab 40 under 40 award on May 9, as part of the Class of 2025. He’s just 24 years old.
He’s doing a lot, so fast.
KAHLIL DARDEN, FOUNDER AND CEO OF YOUNG BLACK MOTIVATED KINGS AND QUEENS.
“I want to show young people in our region that that they don’t have to wait until they’re older to be an example or to set the example,” Darden told the Courier, June 24. “They can be the change that they want to see.”
However, there was an unfortunate, tragic occurrence that set the thought of having a community center into motion. On May 29, 2022, one day before Memorial Day, De’Avry A. Thomas was shot and killed while inside of his car seat in Downtown Pittsburgh. The car Thomas was in was along Fourth Avenue near PPG Place when another vehicle drove by and shot multiple times into the car, purportedly trying to strike an adult person or persons inside the vehicle. However, it was the 18-month-old who ended up dead.
Markez Anger and Londell Falconer were sentenced in 2023 for first-degree murder, attempted homicide, conspiracy and related charges.
IN MEMORY OF DE’AVRY THOMAS. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Thomas was Darden’s godson. “I started planning to open a community center directly after the murder of my godson,” Darden told the Courier. Darden said the hardest part was going through the grieving process of losing his godson while doing the work necessary to make the community center come to fruition.
Thankfully, a building was already in place, but the fundraising to actually reopen it as a viable community center was difficult, too. But the center is open this summer, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the center is open for day care services, as well as summer and after-school programming.
Darden said the completion of everything for the center should occur by the summer of 2026. Expect a financial literacy room space, a science space, a community co-working space, and of course, the state-of-the-art gymnasium. Through pain, Darden is showing that his motion never stops for the betterment of the youth. “I know there are other people out there like De’Avry, and I never wanted another young person to have to experience what happened to De’Avry or the things that I was experiencing in losing De’Avry. I wanted to be able to create space for other young people in the region to be able to have the resources and opportunities that De’Avry wasn’t able to tap into.”
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