Grantee: Harlem United Community AIDS Center

Priority Population: HIV-positive Puerto Rican men and women with a history of substance use

 

Harlem United’s Uptown Health Link project includes targeted outreach and engagement activities; a social marketing campaign encouraging access to primary care; proven retention in care activities; expansion of the agency’s extensive referral network of culturally competent providers; a local evaluation to assess the effectiveness of project activities, and the dissemination of project findings and lessons learned. Uptown Health Link has three components: 1) training and targeted outreach by Puerto Rican Health Promoters who will provide targeted case finding activities to identify and recruit HIV-positive Latinos/as at venues frequented by the target population; 2) linkage to care/navigation services by Patient Navigators using ARTAS, Motivational Interviewing, and peer support to help clients overcome immediate barriers to accessing medical services; and 3) education and support by the Health Promoters who will provide individual-level support to each client to improve retention and group-level education through a 12-week educational/social support series.