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June 2009
Reaching Out To At-Risk Communities
On April 15th, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 326 new cases of HIV in Minnesota during 2008. Young men age 24 and younger have seen a steady rise in the number of cases diagnosed since 2001. In 2008, there were 42 new cases in this population across all races. From 2006-2008 all the young men in this category, where risk behavior was available, reported sex with another male as a factor for exposure. This statistic points to a strong and urgent need to reach this population with prevention information.
Lorraine Teel, Executive Director of the Minnesota AIDS Project says, “The rising trend in young gay/bisexual men needs to be addressed aggressively to prevent rapid increases of HIV in this very much at-risk community.”
Pride Alive, a program of the Minnesota AIDS Project, focuses their outreach on the MSM [men who have sex with men] community and has recently created a program focusing on 18-24 year olds. The program, called “College Night”, provides safer sex education and makes safer sex supplies available to those attending. College Night also creates a place for participants to feel they are part of a safe community that promotes positive self-image and encourages safer sex practices.
The program is in the process of putting together existing Safer Zone curriculum, a Pride Alive workshop which helps MSM build skills to negotiate safer sex, in order to train college students to lead workshops on campuses across Minnesota.
To learn more about this program, go to www.pridealive.org, call 612-373-9165, or e-mail Pride Alive at pridealive@mnaidsproject.org.
Bridge to Benefits
Applying for public assistance can be tough, especially if one is unaware of what is available. Clients may not know they qualify for certain programs and providers not familiar with the public benefits system may be unaware that certain programs even exist.
The Children’s Defense Fund of Minnesota created a tool to help clients, families, friends, and providers assess what benefits they may be eligible for through the county and the state: Bridge to Benefits.
The online questionnaire is easy to fill out and only consists of 7 steps. One just needs to know the following information: county of residence, household size, and household gross income by individual (monthly or annual). Bridge to Benefits will then provide detailed information about where to apply for assistance, program eligibility requirements, and what steps should be taken to apply for each program.
To utilize this useful assessment tool, head to www.bridgetobenefits.org.
The HIV Community Calendar is a one-stop shop designed to keep the HIV community updated on events, trainings, support groups, forums and other activities that are of interest to providers, clients, or the general public . We need your help to keep the calendar current. Please visit the HIV Community Calendar and submit an email with details of upcoming events at your agency. |