Our Check-in volunteers provide phone calls to clients to connect and retain them in care and services.

The Client Services team works with clients to help them access services, resources, and care to improve their health and self-sufficiency.

Stable housing is a critical factor in the success of people living with HIV getting connected to and staying in care. Housing staff support clients with housing search, rental and utility assistance, and housing stabilization support. AIDS Action’s Housing Search Program connects clients to a range of housing options, including transitional, permanent, congregate, and scattered site housing units. Our supportive housing programs provide subsidies and supportive services to families and individuals living with HIV who are exiting homelessness. AIDS Action’s Rental Assistance Programs delivers short-term emergency assistance to clients who face eviction or unaffordable housing, need assistance with move in costs and need assistance with high utility bills to avoid shutoff. In fiscal year 2019, we helped 1,193 households impacted by HIV move to stable housing or avoid homelessness through one or more of these housing options.

AIDS Action’s Legal Services Department provides legal representation and advice from lawyers and legal interns to people living with HIV and AIDS. Cases span a range of civil matters, including housing and rental disputes, divorce and custody cases, financial and end-of-life planning, and more. AIDS Action took on 211 legal cases in fiscal year 2019, which covered a wide range of client needs, including housing and eviction, protection orders, and family law cases.

As one of several state-sanctioned and state-funded syringe exchange programs in Massachusetts, AIDS Action’s Access: Drug User Health Program distributes and exchanges syringes to people who inject drugs. Access: Drug User Health Program is one of the state’s pilot sites for the distribution of Narcan, a nasal spray provided to IDUs and their network of supportive family and friends to reverse potentially fatal overdoses.

The program also operates a drop-in center where members can access:

• Risk reduction supplies, such as crack kits, safer injection supplies, and condoms.
• Periodic risk reduction counseling—both group and individual services.
• Information and referrals to medical, substance use, and other social service providers.

Access provides a variety of other services, including HIV/HCV/STI testing, health navigation, support groups, street outreach and limited nursing care.

Several of our programs are focused on HIV and STI prevention, particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals, populations with a disproportionate risk of getting HIV. Staff conducted 60 outreach sessions among these individuals and distributed 151,932 condoms, including 17,834 safer sex kits. Sexual Health staff provided culturally competent care to 96 transgender clients through the TransCEND program. Transgender and gender nonconforming clients were engaged in monthly movie nights, biweekly drop-in groups, and 5 PrEP educational sessions. We also distributed 683 Safer Hormone Injection Pamphlets and conducted 28 trans* specific outreach sessions via TransCEND. The Sexual Health Program also reached 3,311 MSM of color under the age of 30 and 8,842 individuals through social media and print messaging. One particular success of FY19 was the launch of the Don P campaign on social media. The Don P campaign, which targets LatinX MSM 18-24, was so successful that staff were invited to present a poster at the 2019 United States Conference on AIDS.

We deliver HIV, hepatitis C, and STI confidential testing and counseling services within our targeted prevention programs. During fiscal year 2019, we conducted nearly 1,915 HIV tests among MSM, transgender people, and people who inject drugs. We identified 15 new cases of HIV and reengaged 54 previously diagnosed, out-of-care HIV positive individuals back into HIV medical care. Staff identified 1163 individuals at risk of contracting HIV, HCV and/or STIs.

AIDS Action Health Navigators and outreach staff can help connect at-risk individuals with providers who can talk to them about whether or not PrEP, an antiretroviral medication taken daily, might be a good option to protect them from HIV transmission. 355 high risk individuals were referred to PrEP; 137 clients were provided PrEP adherence support.

AIDS Action’s Youth on Fire is a program for homeless and street-involved youth, ages 14 – 24, which operates a safe and warm drop-in center that provides access to everything from hot showers, meals, and laundry to mental health and medical care and services. We also run a housing program that helps to get young adults off the streets and into safe housing situations so they can start rebuilding their lives. 171 homeless or unstably housed young people received services from Youth on Fire in fiscal year 2020.