empowering farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions since 1981

HIV Prevention Programs

Health & Safety - HIV/AIDS and farmworkers

POL (Popular Opinion Leader)

• Evidence-based and proven effective by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• Highly adaptable
• Utilizes existing influential members of a target community to endorse safer behaviors to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Farmworker Justice staff are national master trainers
• Farmworker Justice offers a one-day adaptation training specific to Latino populations

Young Latino Promotores (a Farmworker Justice adaptation of POL)

In 2002, Farmworker Justice adapted Popular Opinion Leader (POL) for use with migrant, Latino young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Latino migrant YMSM are often isolated from most national and local HIV prevention efforts. Organizations that reach this population often use interventions designed for use with other risk populations. FJ and its partners, the Vista Community Clinic (VCC) of Vista CA, and the Valley AIDS Council (VAC) of McAllen TX (later replaced by Meyers & Associates of the same locale), implemented the Young Latino Promotores (YLP) project in two US-Mexico border communities: McAllen, TX and Vista, CA. The intervention was adapted and tailored to meet the needs of the targeted migrant Latino YMSM, while maintaining fidelity to the core elements of POL. Farmworker Justice co-authored an article documenting their efforts in this project in the peer-reviewed journal AIDS Education and Prevention. The full document may be downloaded by clicking here.

MPoderoso (a Farmworker Justice adaptation of Mpowerment)

The Mpowerment intervention is a CDC proven effective science-based community level HIV prevention intervention that targets young men that have sex with men (YMSM). Farmworker Justice was funded in 2004 to adapt Mpowerment for use with migrant Latino YMSM. Building on its experience creating and editing curriculums, Farmworker Justice collaborated with the Vista Community Clinic (VCC) in Vista, CA to adapt the Mpowerment intervention (titled Mpoderoso) to meet the needs of young migrant men who have sex with men, many of whom do not self-identify as gay. FJ incorporated additional materials including basic HIV information, prevention strategies, and stigma reduction messaging. The activities were tailored to be culturally and linguistically appropriate to the needs of the rural young Latino community.

Promotores de Salud

The Promotores de Salud model uses lay health educators to provide health and service information to people within their own communities. Since 1998, Farmworker Justice has implemented this model, in partnership with community-based organizations, to provide HIV/AIDS education and referrals to migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families nationwide. FJ has successfully trained hundreds of promotores which in turn have reached thousands of community members. Highlights of the programs include:

• Promotores are representatives of their community
• Act as a cultural-bridge between their community and the U.S. health care system, providing access to often disenfranchised individuals
• Farmworker Justice has developed multiple curricula on a variety of health topics available under our Resources section.
• Promotores build their knowledge of HIV and STIs while gaining leadership and communication skills

Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI)

This project is funded through the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI) would like to invite you to participate in our new HIV prevention project supported by CDC through the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI).  This new project is geared specifically toward organizations working within the Latino community, but not currently doing HIV prevention work.  

Act Against AIDS is a multifaceted communications campaign designed to refocus national attention on the domestic HIV crisis and reduce HIV incidence in the United States. Through this project, FJ will provide free training, information, webinars, and tools on HIV prevention to strengthen non-HIV organizations’ awareness, knowledge, and action within Latino communities across the United States.

AAALI has three major components:

Awareness:

Through monthly newsletters and emails, Farmworker Justice will keep organizations updated on the current state of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community.

Knowledge:

We will be providing webinars, trainings, and conference presentations on HIV-related topics.  All activities will be free and available to everyone.  Only through knowledge can we begin to bridge the gap in HIV prevention.

Action:

We will be helping organizations, large and small, rural and urban, get more involved in the fight against HIV.  Through HIV/AIDS Awareness Days, local events, and community partnerships there will be many ways you can become involved.