Team Management 2000, Inc. (TM2K), an integrated behavioral health agency, with its youth-serving agency partners, will implement the Youth & Transitional Age Project (Y-TAP) NJ Prevention Navigator Homeless Expansion Program with an emphasis on homelessness seeks to expand upon their currently funded TCE/HIV SAMHSA CBI/HIV Youth Prevention Program. Key partners consist of The Covenant House, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club of Newark, The Newark LGBTQ Community Center (Outreach Volunteers) The Brother MSM Project, Rutgers University Medical Center, known as (Y-TAP) for YMSM. This expansion will ultimately reduce substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis transmission among youth and young AA adults aged 13-24 (YYAs), especially those who identify as Black/African American or Hispanic/Latino. In Newark, New Jersey, one in 32 African Americans are HIV positive, as are 1 in 76 Latinos. In the last decade, the number of new diagnoses among young males who have sex with males has doubled, with 90% of these ethnic minorities. Y-TAP’s objectives include enhancing youth-specific strategic planning and system capacity, implementing targeted outreach, distributing condoms as an environmental strategy, engaging YYAs in HIV/VH counseling/testing & Street Smart evidence based prevention programming, and linking participants to behavioral health treatment, and stable housing, confirmatory testing and/or HIV medical care. Annually, TM2K expects to touch 500 YYAs in outreach, engage 100 of these in HIV/VH testing and/or Street Smart, provide 25 with behavioral health treatment, and 25 with stable housing assistance. Five year totals include 2,250 YYAs touched through outreach, 450 participating in HIV/VH testing and/or Street Smart, 150 receiving behavioral health treatment. The focus population is YYAs who are disproportionately impacted by the SA/HIV/AIDS epidemics, most commonly in typically hard-to-reach populations of high-risk substance abusers. Our client population will be Black/African American (85%), Hispanic/Latino (10%) and Caucasian/Mixed Race/Other (5%), most often ages 18-24. Y-TAP will reach those YYAs at highest risk for unsafe sexual practices, including males who have sex with males and those with substance use and co-occurring disorders and are homeless or in unstable housing environment. The majority will face multiple barriers to health and well-being, including a history of trauma (both victims and perpetrators), gang affiliation, criminal justice involvement, and parents or guardians with SA disorders, disabling conditions, and/or homelessness. Youth will participate in the six month planning process and will also field test the social marketing campaign to be developed during this period. Programming will focus on evidence-based practices, especially Motivational Interviewing and Street Smart. Y-TAP’s NJ Prevention Navigator model includes targeted Mobile Outreach, using the navigation approach (Community Health Workers, Neighborhood Navigators, and Peer Support Specialists) conduct Rapid HIV/VH counseling/testing M/I & Street Smart evidence based prevention programming; linking participants to behavioral health treatment, housing support, confirmatory testing and linkage to primary HIV medical care.
