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Written by Louis Weisberg, Staff writer
Jun 30, 2010
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will give $1.7 million to Diverse and Resilient to coordinate a grassroots HIV-prevention campaign targeting gay and bisexual black men in Milwaukee. The grant it is believed to be the largest ever awarded by the government to an LGBT organization in Wisconsin, said D&R executive director Gary Hollander.
The CDC estimates that up to 40 percent of gay and bisexual African-American men in Milwaukee are HIV-infected. The transmission rate among young black men in the city tripled between 2001 and 2008, compared with a 143-percent increase among young non-black males. During the same period, the HIV-transmission rate for other demographic groups leveled off or fell.
The CDC came to Milwaukee in late 2009 to investigate the problem and concluded that the disparity was not based on behavioral differences such as condom usage but rather on social factors, including the stigma associated with homosexuality in the African-American community. That can lead to what Brenda Coley, D&R director of adult services, called a “don’t ask” policy when it comes to discussing HIV status with sexual partners.
“You have to ask and you have to tell,” Coley said. “Silence really is death.”
D&R will use the federal funding to launch a five-year project utilizing tried-and-proven methods of HIV reduction that are endorsed by the CDC. The project will feature a youth program tailored to men ages 14 to 24 as well as a separate program targeting men over 25. Both programs will promote HIV testing and both should launch by the end of 2010.
Coley said a core goal of the programs is to build a sense of gay and bisexual identity and community among black Milwaukeeans, to “change social norms to being proud that you’re gay and bisexual and black, and the way you show that is by being healthy, taking care of yourself and being successful.”
As part of the effort, D&R will expand its partnership with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center and other agencies to recruit program participants. A number of other groups throughout the state will also partner in the project, including the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center.
“For other LGBT groups that partner on this project, it should raise the bar for them to improve their systems,” said D&R executive director Gary Hollander. “They’re going to have training in organizational development through this program that will put them in a better position for their future.”
In June, the City of Milwaukee announced that it would provide a grant to D&R to mobilize grassroots organizations in the African-American community to discourage high-risk sexual behavior and encourage the disclosure of HIV status between sexual partners.
The amount of that grant was not disclosed.
