The Aliveness Project’s PrEP Clinic Grows
Ways to Get Involved:
Capital Campaign: https://give.aliveness.org/campaign/ending-the-hiv-epidemic/c401648
Aliveness Website: https://aliveness.org/
Volunteer at Aliveness: https://aliveness.org/volunteering/
Dining Out For Life: https://diningoutforlifemn.org/
Red Ribbon Ride: https://give.aliveness.org/event/red-ribbon-ride-2023/e421788
REACH spoke with Dylan Boyer, Director of Development at the Aliveness project, to check in about their plans for a $180,000 Main Street Economic Revitalization Grant received from the Minneapolis Foundation in 2022.
Begun in 1985 out of a tradition of potluck gatherings, The Aliveness Project has evolved to meet a variety of needs for people living with HIV and those who are most at risk of being diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes.
Members (people living with HIV who utilize some of the many services offered at Aliveness) are eligible to receive hot lunches, access the food shelf, and benefit from case management services, nutrition therapy, housing support and more. Last year, 95 families found permanent housing through the project.
The PrEP Clinic, begun in 2021, is the specific initiative benefitting from the grant. Soon to be housed in the basement of The Aliveness Project, the clinic is preventative in nature and provides medication, testing and education to people at risk of contracting HIV. Dylan stresses that racial disparities in who contracts HIV persist at alarming percentage rates.
In response to the current outbreak of HIV in Hennepin County (tied to encampments, IV drug use and, The Aliveness Project purchased a mobile van and hired a PrEP Navigator. The goal? to alleviate some of the barriers to participating in their programs. These include: stigma, distrust, food insecurity, cost, transportation.
Boyer explains, “When people are house, fed, receiving mental health <services>, the whole entirety of the person becomes healthier and they live a healthier life.”
A PrEP Navigator follows some of the most vulnerable individuals 1-to-1 as a case worker might, and connects them with services. Essentially, they help identify and eliminate or minimize barriers to participation.
The clinic services in combination with a community-based approach is unique to The Aliveness Project. And the fact that services are free is novel. With approximately $460,000 of the $600,000 goal raised, the expansion project should be complete by the end of 2023. Click on links in this article for ways to support this impactful and longstanding work.
“What we are doing - the idea to provide free healthcare to somebody is pretty radical. What we are doing in providing free PrEP is an anti-racist effort.”
WHO
The Aliveness Project’s THRIVE Clinic. A free, trauma-informed community clinic.
WHERE
WHEN
Renovations to The Aliveness Project’s PrEP clinic space are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023.
The mini Capital Campaign is ongoing.
WHY
To house Minnesota’s only FREE PrEP clinic for the prevention of HIV. Daily PrEP use can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV from sex by more than 99%. Among people who inject drugs, PrEP reduces the risk of acquiring HIV by more than 74%.
Read More about Health & Wellness
