Ryan White Title III HIV Capacity Development and Planning Grants - • Project Title: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Part C Capacity Development Program • Category: HIV Care Innovation: Community Health Workers • Applicant Organization Name: Abounding Prosperity, Inc. • Address: 2311 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Dallas, TX 75215 • Project Director Name: Tamara Stephney, COO • Contact Phone Numbers: voice: (214) 421-4800 • E-Mail Address: tstephney@aboundingprosperity.org • Web Site Address: www.aboundingprosperity.org • Grant program funds requested: $150,000 for the one-year project period • Statutory preference requested: Underserved population Abounding Prosperity, Inc. (AP, Inc.) is proposing a project in the HIV Care Innovation category, within the within the Community Health Workers (CHW) activity. The proposed project will increase AP, Inc.’s capacity to implement a comprehensive CHW program that is integrated within the agency. Project funds will be utilized to hire and train CHWs, develop an integrated CHW program within AP, Inc.’s HOPE Health and Wellness Center, and Transgender Health Centers, both of which provide HIV primary care to standardize CHW training processes, policies and procedures, supervisory practices. The project will result in increased access to services for HIV-positive clients, increased retention in care, and improved viral load suppression rates. Needs to be addressed: AP, Inc.’s proposed project for CHW capacity building will address gaps in linkage to care, retention in care, and viral load suppression rates for the agency’s HIV-positive clients. The agency currently employs and utilizes peer workers to conduct outreach and recruitment activities for community-based research projects and through HIV testing, and for peer navigation for clients who test positive. However, the agency has not developed the infrastructure for a formalized CHW program, including policies and procedures, certification processes, data management, and care coordination. Integrating CHWs into AP, Inc.’s HIV primary care clinics will greatly enhance the agency’s linkage, retention and viral suppression rates. Proposed services: With the proposed funding, AP, Inc. will institute a CHW program within the agency’s HIV primary care clinics by conducting the following activities: 1) conducting an internal assessment; 2) developing protocols; 3) establishing an internal system and infrastructure to support the CHWs; 4) developing a recruitment and retention strategy; 5) training plans; and 6) implementing an integrated CHW model. Population group(s) to be served: The target population will be the entire HIV population served by AP, Inc., in the high-risk neighborhoods of Dallas County, TX. The agency primarily serves Black/African American and Latino MSM as well as transgender and cis-gender women populations; AP, Inc. has been successful in reaching the most vulnerable subpopulations within these communities (e.g., sex workers, IDU, non-IDU drug users, previously incarcerated persons, and the Ballroom/House and Pageant communities.