Puerto Rico HIV/AIDS Prevention Grants
December 2010
2011 Funding Awards
ASPIRA Inc. de Puerto Rico
San Juan, PR
Solo para chicas – ASPIRA will continue and expand the implementation of "Sólo para Chicas", through which it has developed educational interventions for 350 Puerto Rican high risk women and girls, between 13 to 24 years over the last two years. This expansion enable the organization to serve the target population residing in the municipalities of Puerto Rico with high rates of teenage pregnancy: Maunabo, Gurabo, Ciales, Cataño, Comerío, Loíza, Aguas Buenas, Barranquitas, Carolina, Orocovis, Vieques and Culebra. All of these municipalities are characterized by both rural and urban poverty sectors, and Vieques and Culebra are disenfranchised communities that, while are part of Puerto Rico, are separate islands.
Casa del Peregrino Aguadilla Inc.
Aguadilla, PR
Programa de Reduccion de Riesgos - The proposed program is a risk reduction intervention, specifically focusing on reducing risk for HIV transmission among the subpopulation of homeless individuals in the Aguadilla and Mayaguez municipalities. Through counseling, the program will help participants change their behavior to reduce their risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV, and the testing component will allow individuals to know their status. Through counseling, participants will learn to evaluate their own personal risk, develop and personalized plan, and make the decision to take an HIV test.
Casa Joven del Caribe, Inc.
Dorado, PR
Dando y Dando y tu Salud Conservando - The organization will continue offering syringe exchange services in areas where this service does not exist. Services will be directed to IDUs through an integral method established at Casa Joven del Caribe, to reduce the risk of HIV infection.
Coai, Inc.
San Juan, PR
Ache program - Aché is program that has been providing Health Education & Risk Reduction (HE/RR) services to at risk MSM (gay/bisexual ages 25 to 39) residing in the San Juan Statistical Metropolitan Area (30 towns). Using group level evidence-based interventions and outreach activities, the Ache program targets MSM and male sex workers in places where they congregate and may participate in sexual encounters, including streets, town squares, and beaches. With the funding from AIDS United, will men at risk will be recruited to participate in a model for risk reduction called Many Men, Many Voices (3MV) to increase their awareness of risks like unprotected sex , and to develop reduction strategies to encourage safer sex behaviors like using condoms or other safer sex practices. They will also be referred and encouraged to testing and medical care if needed.
Housing Works, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
CAIM - Harm Reduction Services for Eastern Puetro Rico - The aim of CAIM is social-reintegration via enhanced and sustained (1) peer-based outreach and education, (2) risk reduction counseling and referrals for social entitlements, rehabilitation and detoxification, and (3) syringe exchange. This multi-pronged approach is designed to maximize resources (via in-kind donation of syringes and paraphernalia related to syringe access services). Housing Works and CAIM selected the interventions listed based on over a decade of experience working in harm reduction and specifically within the communities of Maternillo and PRN. The program is one based on concrete community needs that will use social networks for information dissemination and peer-based interventions with an Outreach Worker who is a former drug user from the communities where the interventions will take place.
Iniciativa Comunitaria de Investigacion
San Juan , PR
Brega Bien - Brega Bien targets youth in high-risk communities age 13 to 21. The intervention will be based on the AIDS Risk Reduction Model and consists of 4 sessions of 1.5-hours with activities such as role playing, games, group discussions, brainstorming, and competitions to test knowledge. Participants identify HIV/STIs high-risk behaviors, and assess their knowledge of HIV/STIs transmission and prevention , as well as evaluate individual high risk behaviors. Participants will also address ways to deal with barriers to practicing safe sex and will develop educational materials based on their self-experience to reduce the high-risk behaviors.
Iniciativa Comunitaria de Investigacion
San Juan, PR 00936
La Vending - Iniciativa Comunitaria developed the first needle exchange preventive program in Puerto Rico as known as Punto Fijo (PF). The program goal is to reduce HIV incidence in injection drug users (IDU) based on Harm Reduction perspective. The modality of a dispensive machine provides more convenient access to sterile syringes to harder to reach IDUs in the community, who for several reasons do not or cannot attend a conventional needle exchange program.
Lucha Contra el SIDA, Inc. (LUCHA)
San Juan, PR
Programa Integral de Prevención de VIH/SIDA para Mujeres - The Integral HIV/AIDS Prevention Program for Women at LUCHA will offer HIV prevention services to homeless women and women who are survivors of domestic violence. The program design will be based on occupational therapy workshops in the Vivero Community, where participants acquire the skills that will help raise their self-esteem, self-determination, and help to improve their process in decision-making, among others. Additionally, a psychosocial component created by a psychologist and addiction counselor will reinforce those skills, placing emphasis on HIV/AIDS prevention based on the reality of the participants, which may include a history of substance abuse.
Migrant Health Center, Inc.
Mayaguez, PR 00681
Puerto Rico Syringe Exchange Program (PR SEP) – The Health Center’s daily Syringe Exchange Program (SEP), provides a way for IDUs who cannot or will not stop injecting drugs dispose of used syringes and obtain sterile syringes at no cost. These services are provided in the Western Region of Puerto Rico at site and through outreach services at the municipally of Mayaguez, Añasco and San German. The program works in collaboration with its CDC prevention funding for Injecting Drug use program (Proyecto Nuevo Horizonte) to provide a range of related prevention and care services that are vital for helping IDUs reduce their risk of acquiring and transmitting blood-borne viruses, as well as maintain and improve their overall health.
Ministerio En Jehova Seran Provistos SIDA Pediatrico Inc.
Arecibo, PR
Proyecto Prevención Sobre Ruedas - The project “Prevention on Wheels,” will offer health education in the rural communities of Camuy, Quebradillas, and Isabela, where individuals are at high risk for STIs and HIV/AIDS, and where there is limited access to services and health education. The project aims to empower at-risk women ages 15-45 by offering interactive education activities focusing on human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, and the prevention of HIV/AIDS, HPV, and other STIs.
Puerto Rico CoNCRA
San Juan, PR
HSH – HSH is a peer outreach program for recruiting young men that have sex with men (YMSM) using the Internet and other high risk venues like pubs, bars, discos and places where sexual work is performed as a recruitment strategy to reach YMSM so they can get tested for HIV.
