Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA)

The HOPWA program helps pay for housing expenses for low income persons and the families of persons infected and affected with HIV or AIDS.  Individuals and their families can be helped with their rent and utilities through two programs:

• Emergency Assistance – for rent/mortgage or utilities if qualified under emergency criteria and income guidelines.

• Long-term Rental Assistance - helps with rent, mortgage or utilities if income guidelines are met.

For more information, please contact the HOPWA Case Manager at (915)544-8195.

Research and Planning Department Activities

The ADAPT-POL program’s purpose is to assist the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with determining the processes needed to adapt evidence-based interventions to fit new conditions or populations.   The ADAPT-POL project responds to concerns from practitioners in the field that existing interventions do not address the specific HIV prevention needs of their chosen target populations.  The project seeks to develop a guidance manual and procedures, which will be used by community based organizations and other prevention agencies to engage in evidence-based adaptation of successful intervention to be used in target populations that are different from those for which the interventions were originally developed.

To test this concept, Planned Parenthood Center of El Paso’s Research and Planning Department is currently adapting a community-level HIV prevention intervention that helps to create a social environment in which gay/bisexual men feel comfortable and empowered to make decisions to avoid high-risk sexual behaviors.  The intervention to be adapted is called the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) and has well documented success with gay/bisexual populations.  This is the first time that the POL intervention will be used in a predominantly Hispanic community among seropositive men who have sex with other men.

The knowledge obtained during the ADAPT-POL intervention will be diffused to other interventions and programs at PPCEP and to other interested parties throughout the United States and abroad.  For further information, please contact the intervention’s Principal Investigator Joao Ferrira-Pinto, Ph.D. at (915)544-8195 or electronically at joao.pinto@ppcep.org. 

Training for Professionals

Prevention Services for HIV-Infected Persons Training & Technical Assistance Program is designed to provide educational and capacity building activities for HIV care and prevention service providers, non-traditional providers, such as promotoras, health educators, counselors, as well as medical providers, social service providers, and community based organizations that do not traditionally work with HIV infected persons.

These activities are designed to: increase the provider’s ability to perform behavioral risk assessments; improve counseling skills in regards to HIV-positive individuals; prevent new infections; increase their knowledge base; increase cultural awareness; and improve their ability to make appropriate referrals to other prevention, care, and social services providers.

Training sessions available include the following areas:  HIV 101, Advanced HIV, Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction, Special Populations, and Communicable Diseases.  All presentations are available in English and Spanish, free of charge, and are scheduled at your agency’s convenience.  In addition, community workshops are offered every other month addressing issues facing HIV service providers and the community at-large. Workshops are free of charge and CEUs are available for a nominal cost. For more information call the Research and Planning Department at (915)544-0631.