Word on the Street: What You Should Know from Community  | October & November '17
Word on the Street, July 2016, from the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies and Prevention Research Center
"Word on the Street" is disseminated monthly to inform CAPS/UCSF PRC of new developments, issues, programs, policy agendas, etc. that are happening in, affecting, and are of interest to the community. 
  In This Issue
  1. Oakland Fast Track City 90-90-90
  2. New Oakland LGBTQ Center
  3. World AIDS Day - East Bay Event
  4. Seniors, HIV, and STD Prevention Education
  5. Gilead Sciences Community Meetings
  6. CAB "Research: Is it for me?" Training
  7. CAPS/PRC Community Provider Meeting - A Conversation About Sex
Oakland Fast Track City 90-90-90 Initiative
The fast track city 90-90-90 is an initiative of the Oakland mayor’s office for achieving the 90-90-90 goals. On January 26, 2018, the 90-90-90 group merges with the Alameda County‘s Getting to Zero group and will meet at 1000 Broadway (3 rd Floor, 3:30-5 P.m.) to coordinate their respective efforts. 
 
If you are interested in signing up for one of the workgroups and/or attending the January 26 th meeting, please contact Marshal Martin at mmartingso@gmail.com
New LGBTQ Community Center Opens in Oakland
Oakland’s LGBTQ Community Center opened September 7, 2017. Oakland’s LGBTQ Community Center opened September 7, 2017. The Center is committed to enhancing and sustaining the well-being of Oakland’s LGBTQ individuals, their families and allies, providing social, educational, and health-related programs, services and activities. It draws young people and their parents and young people who normally do not attend HIV/AIDS-related events. 
World AIDS Day East Bay Event
On December 1, 2017, the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center collaborated with BASE and AHF to host a World AIDS Day event that presented the film “Keeping the Promise: AHF 30 Years,” held a HIV prevention panel discuss, and supported networking. The panel discussed PrEP and U=U and featured Lania Watkins, Dr. Hyman Scott, Christopher Mejia and moderated by openly gay comedian Sampson McCormick . Of note, Black women who attended the event generally did not know about PrEP but were very interested.
BASE logo
Seniors, HIV, and STD Prevention Education
October 2017, the Bay Area State of Emergency (BASE) and AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) collaborated with the West Oakland Senior Center to educate seniors about HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and prevention strategies.
Seniors reported knowing very little about the issues, but welcomed information, were receptive to on-site HIV and hepatitis testing, and requested opportunities for future events. 
Gilead Sciences and AIDS Service Community-Based Organizations Roundtable
On November 29, 2017, a roundtable was held to develop a countywide plan for intervention(s) to significantly affect the HIV/STI/Hepatitis treatment cascades. The group would like to submit one or more proposals to Gilead seeking funding support for the intervention(s). Areas of interest that emerged at the meetings included:

  1. HIV/STI/Hepatitis outreach, testing, treatment and medical case management for homeless populations. One approach would involve coordinating this work with the relatively new Alameda County Care Connect initiative. Another would be the development of 24-hour drop in center with accompanying HIV/STI/Hepatitis outreach, testing, treatment and medical case management
  2. Provider education and intervention regarding HIV/STI/Hepatitis stigma.
  3. Case management and outreach worker workforce development to ensure a pipeline of competent HIV/STI/Hepatitis outreach, testing, and case management workers for our continued prevention and linkage to care effort.

A draft proposal is being developed and will be disseminated to meeting participants on December 18 th for their feedback. Contact Alvan Quamina at AQuamina@cityofberkeley.info for more information or to get involved.
Community Advisory Board – Community Research Training
October 30, 2017, our Community Advisory Board (CAB) provided a “Research Is It for You” training to the community. The training, developed by Loren Jones, a CAB member.
The intent of the training was accomplished: 1) to educate the community about the research process and the value of community engagement, 2) share information about CAPS/PRC open research projects, and 3) stimulate discussion and open participants’ minds to future engagement in research. Participant feedback was very positive, suggesting interest in future community trainings.
Provider and Community Forum - Let's Talk about Sex and HIV
October 11, 2017, the UCSF Prevention Research Center (PRC) Forum hosted a discussion where providers and community came together to talk about HIV and sex. The event included a “ Scientific Overview on Current Science About Sexual Transmission of HIV ” by Dr. Robert Grant ( view slides ) and a provider/community panel discussion. The discussion, facilitated by Tim Vincent, explored Sex and HIV through an interactive conversation addressing what people need to hear to have a fabulous sex life without fear and HIV disclosure – disclose or not. Panelists included Drs. Kathleen Clanon & Steve O’Brien and Ms. Loren, Jones, Mr. Jesse Brooks, and Mr. Rob Newells.
Some key points made during the discussion: 

  • It seems that the U=U prevention message has been withheld from some populations, which is upsetting because it can empower people to have sex without fear.
  • Aging brings about security in self, different expectations around having sex, and an ability to work through emotional stuff and a sex life without fear.
  • While there is support for PrEP and believe in U=U; the STI part is hard. Rates are up. 
  • Five years ago, African American MSMs feared that TASP was a lie and a way to kill them “medical mistrust”. Today we can talk about TASP and PrEP as options to make disclosure easier.
  • The ethics of disclosing vs. not disclosing is complicated and personal. Some believe, if serious and want to build a relationship, then disclose; if it is just about sex, then do not.
If you have questions or need more information, please contact Barbara:
Barbara Green-Ajufo, DrPH, MPH
Research Partnership Manager
Community Engagement (CE) Core
Phone: (415) 476-6362
Quick Links
The mission of  Center for AIDS Prevention Studies  is to end the HIV epidemic and associated health and social disparities by conducting high impact HIV prevention science and building capacity among researchers and communities to effectively address HIV.  Grant #: 2P30MH062246
The mission of the  UCSF Prevention Research Center  is to maintain an interdependent network of community, academic, and public health partners to design and implement prevention research aimed at answering significant and innovative HIV research questions and promoting the wide use of practices proven to promote health for those infected and affected by HIV.  Grant #: 5U48DP004998 
University of California San Francisco