Our Communities
We’ve built our work around the needs of communities experiencing sexual health and substance use-related disparities. When we hear the word “disparity,” we understand that to be the result of health injustice. These injustices are well-documented by the HIV and hepatitis C statistics published by local health departments and other publications.
Our efforts to prioritize specific communities are informed by these data, as well as our experiences as service providers and advocates, our organizational capacity and history, and — very importantly — what we learn every day from people in our communities.
We believe that centering these communities allows us to provide high quality care to anyone who comes through our doors.
Our priority communities are:
- People living with HIV
- Gay, bi and queer men
- Trans and gender non-binary people
- People who inject drugs
Within these communities, we further prioritize:
- People of color
- People experiencing homelessness and unstable housing
- People over age 50
- People living with hepatitis C
- People who use substances
- People with mental health care needs
We recognize that these communities are not mutually exclusive nor is this list exhaustive, as there are many intersections in our identities and experiences. For example, people with disabilities, undocumented immigrants, and people for whom English is not a native language intersect with every priority community. In addition, we support other communities through the work of our strategic partners.
We are committed to expanding how we define our priority communities to match shifting health disparities and to address shortcomings in health equity that exist or may emerge in the health care system.