Three local organizations are teaming up to provide wide-ranging HIV prevention and outreach efforts on both sides of the Delaware River.
AccessMatters, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc. and the Hispanic Family Center of Southern New Jersey, Inc., received a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control that they are putting toward the creation of Brothers United. The program — funded through CDC’s “high-impact prevention” dollars made possible through the revamped National HIV Strategy — targets African-American and Latino men, including men who have sex with men, high-risk heterosexual men such as intravenous-drug users and their sexual partners, in both Philadelphia and Camden.
“We’re trying to keep those who are HIV-positive linked to care and those who are HIV-negative given enough information to prevent transmission,” explained Rashidah Abdul-Khabeer of AccessMatters.
The program will get underway with a focus on outreach and community engagement, with the three collaborating organizations working to get the word out in their respective communities.
“One of the most important parts of this program is making sure that people at the community level really understand the availability of services,” Abdul-Khabeer said. “The National Strategy has been reworked to encourage providers to get close to people at the community, neighborhood level. Each of these three organizations has some similarities but we’re each going to be very much managing and navigating cultural issues and norms in each of the service areas. We’re literally going to be going out, finding partners, canvassing and handing out pamphlets and brochures.”
Abdul-Khabeer said program organizers have developed promotional materials to distribute in local neighborhoods with the intent of connecting people to counseling and testing at the partner organizations.
The program will also include navigation services, such as connecting clients to health care and helping them develop prevention plans using condoms of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Lizette Torress, assistant program director for the Family Resource Center and health-education department at HFC, headquartered in Camden, said this marks the first time the organization will be doing targeted outreach efforts to MSM, who have previously been included in their wider HIV work.
“We’ll be reaching out to communities with Camden city and throughout Camden County and Southern New Jersey,” Torress said. “We want to reach men who are at high risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, which includes MSM, IV-drug users and those who may have multiple partners within a year.”
HFC has hired a staffer to oversee its Brothers United program and is planning to bring on a part-time employee, as well as utilize existing staff for HIV testing.
Congreso director Lorett Matus said the program was a natural fit for her organization.
“The statistics are very high for men of color acquiring HIV and AIDS, even though it may be off the national radar,” Matus said. “Given the community we work with, it makes sense to partner with these two agencies to produce what we think is going to be historic, impactful programming.”
Congreso brought on two full-time personnel to manage its portion of the program.
Brothers United will be rolled out in time for Men’s Health Week next week.
HFC will host a health fair 1-7 p.m. June 10 at 29th and Federal streets in Camden, providing health information and testing, education and access to services and resources. The organization will also hold expanded testing hours the week of June 13, until 7 p.m. For more information, contact Adonis Banegas at [email protected] or 856-963-0270.
AccessMatters will also offer extended testing hours during Men’s Health Week, including late-night and weekend testing. For more information, contact the organization’s information hotline at 800-662-6080 or text “GOTEST” to 66746. AccessMatters recently launched a mobile app, “It Matters,” focused on sexual and reproductive-health services for youth. For more information, visit www.itmatters.me.
Congreso will offer testing at the June 12 Philadelphia Pride and will be the sole testing provider at the All White Party with a Touch of Gold, 9 p.m.-3 a.m. June 17 at the African American Museum, 701 Arch St. Tickets are $25: http://ow.ly/LBH23010nSj. For more information about Congreso, visit www.congreso.net.