The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #56195

Shadi S Saleh, PhD, Health Policy, Management & Behavior, SUNY-Albany, One University Place, Rensselaer, NY, NY 12144, (518) 402-0299, ssaleh@albany.edu and Vanessa Johnson, JD, Capital District African American Coalition on AIDS, PO Box 10356, Albany, NY 12201.

The Capital Region is the epicenter for AIDS cases in the Northeastern Region of New York State. Of the 1,588 diagnosed AIDS cases, 71% (1,141) are among African Americans, a significant proportion of which are females. In addition, the Capital Region has a high concentration of substance abusers. Faced with these facts, the Capital District African American Coalition on AIDS, a community-based organizations, reached out to other CBOs to form a collaborative entity to reduce the burden of HIV/SA among African American females in the Capital Region. The result was the formation of The Empire Consortium on HIV and Substance Abuse Prevention. The Consortium is composed of seven CBOs that are run and operate within the impoverished, primarily African American neighborhoods of the Capital Region. These CBOs provide services that include grief counseling, leadership building, safe housing, mentoring for young women, substance abuse treatment, and a theatre group that acts, produces and directs plays targeted towards the youth. In addition, the Consortium formed the “Community Advisory Council” consisting of community leaders with different backgrounds. The consortium members began providing HIV/SA prevention related to behaviors and lifestyles through different ways. First, it was decided that HIV positive, high-risk, and low-risk African American females should be targeted through small-group interventions. The second prevention strategy, large group sessions, included participation in regional conferences convened in the Capital Region and plays produced and directed by the theatre group. Third, the Consortium decided to conduct a community-wide communication campaign.

Learning Objectives:

• - Get familiar with community-based infrastructure building
• - Be able to identify partners in the community to promote healthy behaviors and lifestyles
• - Be able to develop community-oriented health promotion and prevention programs that target minority population
• - Get familiar with programs aimed at reducing the burden of HIV/substance abuse in minority populations

Keywords: African American, Community Collaboration

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Program evaluator of the project