MAP Outreach

Outreach to Men of Color Who Have Sex with Men
Programs are offered to address the needs of at-risk men in diverse cultural subgroups of the Black and Latino communities. All of the programs include education for safer sex and safer drug-use methods through personal contact with outreach staff and volunteers in street, park and bar locations where many of these men congregate. Several MAP programs use the group education approach with emphasis on skill building for risk reduction behavior (i.e. proper condom use, safer sex negotiation, self-esteem and low-risk behavior).

Outreach to Women of Color
MAP programs that address the needs of women with staff and volunteers who are women of color who formerly led lives that placed them at-risk for HIV/AIDS. This staff is especially trained to be culturally sensitive to subgroups of women targeted at bars, food lines, on the street, and at housing projects, prison settings, recovery homes and homeless shelters.

A new outreach model that integrates the Arts, Community Mobilization and Economic Development has been incorporated into our continuum of care.

Needle Exchange Program
MAP’s comprehensive Needle Exchange Program aims to provide education and other forms of support for safer drug-using behaviors. The program does not promote drug use; it is designed to provide interventions for injection drug users to eliminate or significantly reduce drug-using behaviors.

MAP operates this street outreach program in geographic areas where both IV drug use and HIV infection is prevalent. Our model demonstration program includes an exchange rather than a distribution of needles, on site counseling, education concerning substance abuse and HIV/AIDS on site referrals to medical and drug treatment facilities, social and HIV/AIDS services. Access to substance abuse treatment on demand and a research and evaluation component are a part of the programs’ focus.

Treatment Education and Advocacy Program
The Treatment Adherence Program is designed to assist persons to make healthy and informative choices regarding their healthcare while living with HIV/AIDS. The program engages one-on-one counseling and group education sessions to benefit those interested in receiving information regarding their medications, potential side effects, insurance coverage, and nutrition and weight management. Assistance is also provided to persons experiencing difficulty working with their primary care physician.

Transgender Outreach
Transgender Outreach provides HIV/AIDS education and prevention, behavior modification, one-on-one counseling, group counseling, and referral information for housing, food and clothing. Workshops for Transgenders include self-esteem, work place behavior, job training, grooming and effective communication.

Data Collection Network
To coordinate access of clients to the limited resources in South Los Angeles, MAP designed and developed a web-based data collection system that enables MAP to collect client data, coordinate the services rendered by service providers in an established network, follow-up and track client progress, and report on all activities in an efficient and comprehensive manner. The system, part of a demonstration program, when expanded and upgraded will incorporate all MAP data intake and collection systems and provide access for coordinated referral services and utilization of primary care services with better monitoring of outcomes and more thorough continuum of care for clients and the community at large.