Project Silk: A youth-centered structural HIV intervention model for Black men who have sex with men and transgender women

Abstract

In the United States, young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) and young Black transgender women (YBTW) are disproportionately impacted by HIV. However, few evidence-based models developed specifically by and for YBMSM and YBTW communities across the HIV prevention and care continuum exist. The objective of this paper is to describe a comprehensive youth-centered structural HIV intervention model that combines structural and behavioral high-impact prevention to provide a recreation-based community health space for YBMSM and YBTW. Project Silk pairs recreational activities with HIV and STI prevention, counseling, testing, and referral services on- and off-site, nested HIV care linkage/re-engagement, onsite ancillary broad-spectrum social services and mental health care, and social support and social capital initiatives intended to facilitate HIV risk reduction. By incorporating strongly targeted recruitment and engagement strategies and local tailoring, this innovative structural model can be deployed at scale for communities in where programmatic infrastructure is lacking.

Keywords:

• Black MSM
• Black transgender women
• community engagement
• HIV prevention
• youth-centered intervention model

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

This article is dedicated to the youth who helped create Project Silk and continue to utilize its services. The authors would like to thank Anthony Silvestre of the University of Pittsburgh; Jill Garland, Marijane Salem-Knoll and Ken McGarvey of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and; John Beltrami and Roderick Joiner at the CDC for demonstration project coordination and technical support. For essential project contributions, the authors are grateful to Daphne Beers, Michael Brookins, Aria Copeland, Nayck Feliz, Dalen Hooks, Clarisse Jordan, Kenneth McDowell, Terrance McGeorge, Michael Morgan, Jess Netto, Adrienne Walhona, Mona Whitley, and the Youth Advisory Board.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention: PS-12-1202c).