WASHINGTON – The National Youth Advocacy Coalition has acquired funding to provide capacity building assistance to community-based organizations that provide HIV prevention services to African-American and Latino youth, the agency announced today.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded NYAC’s National LGBTQ Youth of Color CBA Initiative for four and half years beginning September 30, 2009. The award of $1.9 Million ($427,500 annually) was one of 30 projects funded by the CDC across the country.
“We are extremely thrilled to receive this funding from the CDC as it allows us to continue working to strengthen the capacity of organizations working in communities of color,” said Lara Crutsinger-Perry, deputy executive director for NYAC. “HIV continues to disproportionately affect communities of color and LGBT youth; this award allows us to continue working with these communities to further curb this epidemic. Community organizations are on the front lines of this fight against HIV and we’re looking forward to helping them win the fight.”
NYAC’s newly funded project will allow the organization to continue its awarding-winning “You Know Different” project, a social marketing campaign designed to encourage African-American youth to get tested for HIV. These funds will also allow NYAC to develop a campaign suitable for a Latino audience.
“There are simply too few resources available that are specifically designed for Latino youth, so we look forward to working with the Latino community to create a new social marketing campaign utilizing the model developed during the creation of ‘You Know Different’ and we believe that it has a great chance of being just as successful,” explained Crutsinger-Perry.
NYAC also will continue to offer individualized capacity-building assistance to community-based organizations and AIDS-service organizations that work with African-American and Latino youth. Additionally, the organization announced plans to present the youth institute “HIV Prevention 2.0” during the upcoming United States Conference on AIDS in San Francisco on Oct. 29.
To maintain cost-effectiveness and reach more constituencies, NYAC will continue to offer web-based technical assistance such as webinars and an online training library. NYAC has been funded by the CDC previously and has provided capacity building services since 1993.
For more information, contact NYAC at www.nyacyouth.org or www.youknowdifferent.org.
The National Youth Advocacy Coalition is a social justice organization that advocates for and with young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning in an effort to end discrimination against these youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well being. The National Youth Advocacy Coalition’s home on the Internet is www.nyacyouth.org.
