In the DEEP-ROOTS program, we’ve established a strong network of service providers to ensure communities easily access the care they need. We recognize that every community has its own support system, linking them to essential services in combination HIV prevention. Our network spans service providers including health, education, legal, social and related services.

We engage providers to focus their energy and resources on communities with compounded reasons for HIV and GBV prevention. We know that experiences with poverty, homelessness, incarceration, intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, sex work and substance use correlate to a higher chance of an HIV diagnosis.

We work with providers to leverage to increase awareness, knowledge and participation in HIV prevention and care strategies in a hyper-local way. This includes trainings and resources for intersecting service providers who may not feel they have the time, resources or expertise to deliver HIV prevention services such as testing, counseling and linkage to prevention and care.

Training and resources can prepare these organizations to develop infrastructure and networks for communities and deliver on-site HIV counseling and conversation series through independent events, arts and culture activities and ongoing social support groups that integrate HIV prevention and care that are spearheaded by our Peer Community Advisors (PCAs).

Programs and interventions take into account the social determinants of health that drive HIV among communities. Our DEEPROOTS strategy considers economic empowerment interventions that use financial incentives or activities to increase women’s incomes, and as such their opportunities and capacities to make voluntary and empowered choices about their sexual health. Studies show that many women prefer microeconomics interventions that address structural determinants of HIV vulnerability over behavior change methods that focus on HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and intentions.

We ensure that Intersecting service providers are well-positioned to help develop and deliver programs that target the ways in which shelter, poverty, intimate partner violence, incarceration, sex work, substance use and unemployment drive HIV rates in communities

With our provider network, we’re fostering a movement that fights against stigma and discrimination, promoting diversity, inclusion, and community power for lasting change. Our mission is to change lives through connections, one step at a time. Together, we’re creating a future where everyone can flourish.