Sunday, April 27, 2025
4/27/2025
Project HEAT (HIV Education And Testing) - Special Health Resources for Texas (SHR) Inc., is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit Federally Qualified Community Health Center located in the Northeastern part of Texas and serves an area of over 9,500 square miles, which includes 14 rural to semi-rural counties. The area is characterized by high percentage of minority populations, persons in poverty, lower education levels, and increased risk of experiencing disease morbidity and mortality rates. Given the relatively small population the area is experiencing significant HIV/AIDS health disparities, especially among the MSM population. SHR seeks to expand their HIV prevention and testing services by developing Project HIV Education And Testing (HEAT) to provide Targeted HIV testing services for individuals at high-risk for, or unaware of, their HIV status. SHR will primarily focus on African American and Latinx MSMs, as prioritized in the Texas HIV Plan. Project HEAT will implement a Comprehensive HIV Prevention Program in accordance with the CDC’s Ending the HIV Epidemic and will focus in achieving the following outcomes: I. Increased persons who are aware of their HIV status by conducting 4,500 HIV tests and hosting at least fifteen large-scale testing events. II. Increased receipt of integrated screenings at all testing events. III. Increased receipt of HIV medical care and ART among persons with newly diagnosed HIV, or those previously diagnosed, not-in-care, by implementing ARTAS IV. Increased access to Partner Services and other Support Services. V. Increased access to PrEP/nPEP. VI. Increased availability of condoms. VII. Increased receipt of evidence-based risk-reduction behavioral interventions by providing Personalized Cognitive Counseling to repeat HIV testers and PROMISE to anyone with or at risk for acquiring HIV. VIII. Increased health department and community engagement for cluster detection. A comprehensive Evaluation and Performance Measurement Plan and Data Management Plan, developed in accordance to the NOFO requirements, will be developed in collaboration with key community partners to guide all data collection, analyses and reporting activities. Project HEAT’s staffing plan will include a Principal Investigator (PI), Project Manager (PM), 2 Prevention Specialists (PS), 2 HIV Navigators (HN), one Outreach Worker (OW), and a Marketing Specialists (MS). The team will develop HIV prevention strategies targeting MSM at-risk and unaware of their status and that address barriers to accessing HIV testing.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).