The Womens Collective divides its programming into two areas: HIV Prevention and HIV Care Management.

• Reduce the rate of infection and transmission of HIV among Black women in the District of Columbia.

• Increase the HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude and prevention skills of Black women, ages 18 and up, that will promote healthy HIV risk reduction behaviors.
• Enhance personal and social skills to increase sexual negotiation skills, condom and other safe sex practices.
• Increase the number of Black women who receive HIV antibody testing and test results.
• Promote personal and community social acceptability of safer sex and strategies to reduce risk for HIV/AIDS in sexual behavior.
• Provide opportunities for Black women to be empowered and develop leadership skills in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
• Evaluate the Sisters Helping Sisters to Survive as a model primary and secondary prevention for Black women.
• Integrate women-focused prevention activities fully into The Women's Collective other peer based programs and services.
  

The services offered by the SHSS program are as follows:

Venue Based Outreach: In this important aspect of prevention work peer educators conduct outreach in various settings where women gather. These include beauty and nail salons, supermarkets, schools, tenants meetings, PTA meetings, shelters, substance abuse treatment facilities, social events, home parties, nightclubs and any other place where groups of women might be found. Additionally, outreach is performed at large events, conferences and health fairs held in parks, at convention centers and hotels. We also cover small community-based events held at churches and other community organizations. These venues offer us an opportunity to meet women of their own territory and share prevention messages in a non-threatening setting.

Street Outreach: Street outreach is another highly effective approach used by the SHSS project. Women are approached by peer educators while walking or shopping in commercial centers and other high traffic areas. Locations are chosen by the amount of activity and the type of activity that occurs there as well as the population that frequents the area. All neighborhoods where women of color reside or frequent are targeted.

Presentations/Workshops: The program provides workshops and presentations on HIV/AIDS prevention for community organizations. Peer educators strive to build relationships with community leaders such as pastors, resident council members, students, etc. These community gatekeepers possess valuable knowledge of the needs of local women and can help us shape our presentations appropriately, so that they are as beneficial as possible.

Individual Level Intervention: For those times when a brief outreach encounter is not enough, the SHSS Peers provide extended HIV prevention counseling sessions. These counseling sessions are centered on addressing the clients immediate HIV prevention needs or concerns. Matters may arise that are not directly related to HIV but still have an impact on the clients sense of safety, security or empowerment. Once identified by way of the counseling session, clients with these kinds of concerns can be referred to the Womens Collective for Prevention Case Management. As PCM clients they can receive ongoing assistance with these issues as well as continued HIV/AIDS prevention counseling.

Prevention with Positives-PROSPER!

PROSPER! is an innovative intervention designed to provide comprehensive risk & counseling services (CRCS) in conjunction with group level interventions (GLI) that combine to affect the physical and mental health of Black women living with HIV/AIDS by preventing or delaying adverse health outcomes.We target both newly diagnosed Black women ages 18 and up and those who have been out of a system of care. The goal of the project is to enhance the quality of life of Black women living with HIV/AIDS in the District of Columbia by providing multi-tiered, integrated health solutions and support services.

We utilize a variety of approaches to ensure Positive Perspectives is woman-focused, family-centered and peer-based. Our program provides services for women through a comprehensive family-centered program that includes peer support/counseling, creates connections between care-seekers and caregivers, and promotes the participation and empowerment of women, families, partner(s) and members of their support network in developing care plans based on their self-defined needs. Problems encountered by women living with HIV/AIDS encompass unique psychosocial, cultural, legal, and financial problems. We address complex issues of sexual abuse, self perception, domestic violence and economic status, among others. We also take into consideration various health concerns that affect Black women in greater proportion than other women, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses unrelated to HIV/AIDS.

For more detailed information on PROPSER! click here.

Fighting for Our Lives (FFOL)
The goal of FFOL is to promote primary and secondary prevention and early intervention strategies among women living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS in the District of Columbia with emphasis on Black women. FFOL integrates prevention with positives and care and treatment information that meets the medical, psychosocial and mental health care needs of women. More than 300 women have attended FFOL since its inception in 1997. In 2004 this conference is sponsored wholly or in part by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the District of Columbia, Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA).

The Womens Collective Approach
Woman-focused: The Womens Collective chose to focus its resources on serving women because of a need to fill a very wide gap in services. Prevention services targeting women were urgently needed because the fasted growing number of new AIDS cases is among women. Most organizations aimed their efforts at men and women but the model on which services were based was primarily male. The Womens Collective model takes in to account that the needs of women may be different from those of other populations. As women of color we are also sensitive to the various cultural nuances of African-American, Caribbean, Latina and African Women.

Peer-based: All programs of the Womens Collective are run by women who come from the same or similar backgrounds as the women we serve. We are an all female staff, some of whom are women living with HIV. In our experience women at risk and women living with HIV are often more comfortable receiving services from members of their own group. Therefore our outreach specialists who assist newly diagnosed women with obtaining services are also women living with HIV, and peer educators conducting outreach are women who have been at risk or are living with HIV.

Family-centered: In addition to being peer-based and woman-focused, all Womens Collective programs including prevention are family-centered. This means that child care is available during all prevention related groups and other meetings and while women receive HIV counseling and testing services and PCM services etc. Counseling and support for children and family members of our clients is provided as necessary. Families of the women we serve are also invited to participate in special events sponsored by the collective, such as the holiday party, and the annual African-American Walk for Life fundraiser. We recognize that women exist as part of a family unit that often needs services and support as well. Supporting the family is another way of supporting the woman.