The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has granted Bienestar a five-year grant of $2,250,000 for HIV/AIDS prevention aimed at Latino gay and bisexual men between the ages of 14 and 24 in San Diego and Los Angeles counties.

“We cannot ignore the fact that people of color are being significantly impacted by this epidemic and that funding that targets these specific communities is fundamentally necessary as our nation addresses this issue,” said Oscar De La O, president and CEO of Bienestar.

The $2.25 million grant will be distributed as $450,000 a year for five years. De La O said the funding will allow Bienestar to implement the Sabores MPowerment program in both San Diego and Los Angeles counties. In addition, the funding will expand the availability of HIV counseling, testing and referral services in Los Angeles County.

“This increase in funding is a great accomplishment and a contribution that Bienestar is making to the San Diego community, since San Diego has been losing federal HIV/AIDS money the past several years,” De La O said. “Bienestar is committed to identifying new funding for San Diego so that everyone in the community can benefit.”

At Bienestar’s San Diego office, located at 3020 North Park Way, two additional health educators will be hired to implement the Sabores program.

The Sabores program was designed at Bienestar by and for young Latino men, De La O said, and incorporates social cofactors that can lead to the risk of infection, such as socioeconomic hardship, racism, cultural insensitivity, anti-immigrant sentiment and homophobia.

A variety of service components are incorporated into the Sabores program, including: community outreach and recruitment, assessment and referral, one-on-one HIV prevention counseling and HIV testing, individual life-skills guidance and support, individualized peer support, group-level interventions, youth gatherings, cultural talent showcases, outdoor activities to engage participants and prevention case management.

Sabores uses the MPowerment model, which is a community-level intervention program that builds the skills and self-confidence of young men who have sex with men (YMSM). De La O said Bienestar has adapted and tailored this intervention for the Latino YMSM population.

“The Sabores MPowerment program is based on a series of principles, including the importance of self-determination, personal empowerment, the diffusion of new behaviors through social networks, the power of peer-influence, a need to focus on HIV prevention within the context of issues considered important to young men, community building and always using gay-positive and sex-positive approaches,” De La O said.

Because the vast majority of Bienestar’s staff is fluent in Spanish, they have the infrastructure within the organization to effectively target Latino men between the ages of 14 and 24, De La O said.

“The program promotes social connectedness through formal and informal outreach events and reduces social isolation – a common experience for young gay men,” he said.

Since gay and bisexual men continue to be the largest population of people living with HIV/AIDS, the need to develop programs targeting this population is urgent, De La O said.

“Unfortunately, broader media campaigns are not culturally specific, and oftentimes educational materials are simply translated into Spanish without including the cultural nuances necessary to impact this group,” he said.

Due to San Diego’s close proximity to the U.S./Mexico border, De La O said there is continual migration of Latino YMSM traveling across the border into Tijuana to socialize, consume alcohol, use drugs and engage in high-risk sexual behaviors.

One study documented that YMSM who did not disclose their sexual orientation were less likely than others to seek HIV testing, De La O said.

“Further, many youth have a sense of invulnerability that ‘it won’t happen to me.’ This type of thinking among youth demonstrates a need for continued, targeted education and information to this population,” he said.

Bienestar’s efforts have been significant in providing HIV testing to communities with a high risk for infection. The national rate for the identification of HIV-positive individuals is 1.5 per 100 people tested (1.5 percent), while Bienestar’s rate is 4 percent.

“This is primarily because the organization uses strategies to HIV testing that remove cultural and language barriers for the population,” De La O said. “Through our mobile testing units, we go to where the community is and provide testing. Our staff is knowledgeable of locations where the population can be accessed and provides testing at bathhouses, nightclubs and cruising places.”

According to Bienestar, Latinos make up 37 percent of California’s population and account for a disproportionately high rate of new HIV infection cases. Approximately 44.6 percent of Los Angeles County residents are Latino, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, and in San Diego County, 27 percent are Latino.

According to the CDC, in 2004, Latinos accounted for 18 percent of new diagnoses reported in the 35 areas with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting in the U.S. Blacks accounted for 50 percent of new diagnoses, while whites accounted for 30 percent. According to the CDC data, most Latin men were exposed to HIV through sexual contact with other men (59 percent), followed by injection drug use (19 percent) and heterosexual contact (17 percent).

Bienestar provides community education, prevention, mobilization, advocacy and the provision of direct social services. For more information, visit www.bienestar.org or call (619) 295-2192 in San Diego or (323) 660-9680 in Los Angeles.