Tuesday, May 27, 2025
5/27/2025
Chicago Compass Care Collaborative (C4) initiative - Brothers Health Collective (BHC) is a peer health navigation center, specifically designed to test, link and navigate high risk populations to equitable care services. BHC provides culturally responsive, comprehensive, and integrated services to at-risk men who have sex with men (MSM), MSM living with HIV/AIDS and their intimate partners. BHC’s health promotion services improve the ability of MSM to make informed health care decisions by increasing equitable access to culturally and age appropriate lifesaving services: sexual health screening technology, care and treatment, medical/medication adherence and active retention and reengagement in HIV/STI clinical care. BHC targets MSM residing in the City of Chicago and Suburban Cook County, Illinois (IL), and has recently partnered with the minority led and operated Wellness Home on Morgan HIV Clinic (WHM) to target high-risk MSM. BHC also partners with Transforming Re-Entry Services (TRS) to support corrections case management for post incarcerated PWH. BHC, WHM and TRS are 501C3 stakeholder accessible community-based organizations (CBOs), providing safe spaces, outstanding biomedical prevention ,medication adherence support, immediate linkages to medical/behavioral health care, and peer based behavioral risk intervention services to MSM on the Southside of Chicago and Suburban Cook County. This partnership maximizes the sharing of resources, community collaboration, replication of best practices, facilitates information exchange, reduces duplication of efforts, reduces oversaturation of HIV prevention services, and expands the health care safety net for MSM. Supportive Collaborative partners also include: (1) TEECH Foundation, an outpatient substance use service provider, (2) Pilsen Pharmacy, a venue based CLIA Waived HIV testing partner, (3) Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, promotion and recruitment partner hosting the annual Lovefest Pride event. This unique collaborative has over twenty-four months of experience implementing trauma informed programming for HIV-positive and high-risk HIV-negative MSM. Additionally, this union has developed and implemented a comprehensive high impact prevention program model, here after known as the Chicago Compass Care Collaborative (C4) initiative. C4 incorporates navigation, prevention, evidenced informed biomedical interventions and essential support services (NPESS) to support MSM and the myriad of social and structural determinants of health they encounter within Cook County jurisdictions, Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). Moreover, structural barriers to testing, partner services and linkage to care disproportionately impacts retention and re-engagement in health care. The C4 framework has been developed and implemented in incremental stages over the past 24 months and demonstrates promising practices in reducing HIV-related morbidity and mortality among MSM. This partnership has (1) board approved community-based collaborative service agreements (2) an effective MSM Community Engagement Group to partner in the development and promotion of innovative outreach and recruitment strategies that deliver culturally appealing health promotion messages to a diverse population of MSM; (3) dual HIV/Syphilis and 4th Generation rapid CLIA waived point of care testing technology to identify PrEP/nPEP candidates, (4) active referrals to comprehensive high impact prevention services (5) condom distribution protocols across all programs CDC PS21-2102 funding will enhance and expand the C4 partnership’s safety net for MSM who are often lost to care due to fragmented jurisdictional restrictions in Cook County, Illinois and the development of a much needed safe space The Baldwin Center, a Black MSM Leadership development institute and Trauma Informed Safe Space supporting Black Mental Health Wellbeing.
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).