NEW COLLABORATION WITH ASIAN HEALTH SERVICES MEETS WITH COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE BAY AREA

Our newest health education program will be launching next week! Project 4PLAY will concentrate on HIV and substance use prevention for 18-24 year old queer and/or drug using A&PI men in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Alameda Counties. The program is an expansion of previous collaboration between A&PI Wellness Center and Asian American Recovery Services.

"What we found in the last cycle as well through our data was that those 18-25 engaged in higher risk behaviors than their older counterparts," John Lam of AARS. "Now the program is expanded to four counties, all A&PI ethnicities, with a narrower age range."

In the last month, the 4PLAY Team held a series of Community Forums to talk about the new project and form collaborations with other agencies. "Surprisingly, people who don't particularly do HIV prevention came to the forums," said Denmark Diaz, also of AARS. "A lot of them were curious to see the data and find out more about what's happening in the community. We were able to also form partnerships with a few community organizations and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department."

The first sessions of Project 4PLAY will be happening in Alameda County, which has seen an alarming spike in new HIV cases among A&PIs in the last few years. To kick-off the program, the 4PLAY Team hosted a social in Union City on October 13, and will formally start the program on October 20.

Keep up with Project 4PLAY on Facebook!