A local youth program got a sizable grant this month that it will use to fund an innovative HIV-prevention campaign.
Youth-Health Empowerment Program is the beneficiary of a $1.5-million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Y-HEP, a program of Philadelphia FIGHT, was selected for the CDC funding to launch a new prevention campaign targeting young men of color who have sex with men.
The organization’s “I AM” project will seek to heighten awareness of the disease and increase testing numbers among men ages 18-29.
“The rates of HIV and new transmissions in young MSM of color are really high in Philadelphia, as well as nationally,” said Katie Dunphy, Y-HEP director. “It was clear to us that this is a challenge and we wanted to respond to develop a program that thinks about the specific needs of this population to reduce the annual number of new HIV infections among young MSM of color.”
The project will enlist members of this population to help spread messages about HIV prevention among their peers, reaching the target audience through outlets with which they are familiar, such as social media.
“The whole idea is to recruit folks within the community and get them engaged in systems of care,” Dunphy explained. “We want to enroll people who are opinion leaders within their own circles, people who are already leaders. We’ll train them on things like how to reduce risky behaviors and the need for increased HIV testing and work with them to disseminate messages among their social networks. I think the brilliance of this program is that the messages will come from the youth themselves, not from me, not from an organization. But they’ll be working on developing these messages themselves and getting them out to those in their circles.”
The grant will allow for the hiring of six new employees to manage the program. Y-HEP currently employs 10 people.
Y-HEP did receive a similar-sized CDC grant a few years back, but Dunphy said the latest funding is “very significant.”
In the next nine months, the organization will begin developing the project’s procedures and policies and start the hiring process.
Garnering input from the young MSM of color community will also be integral to getting the program off the ground, Dunphy said.
“With the increase in staff, we’ll really be able to be out there in the community. We’ll be at places where young MSM of color congregate and really plan to hear from the youth with focus groups and develop relationships with a lot of different people and groups in the community to work together to halt the spread of HIV.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].
