About

Our mission is to provide health services, expertise and leadership throughout Maryland by:

• Providing comprehensive, interdisciplinary, individualized and confidential health care to infants, children, youth, and young adults living with or at risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS;

• Providing youth centered reproductive health care, health education, prevention, and early identification services to infants, children, youth, and young adults living with or at risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS;

• Offering general health care, including school and sports physicals, and contraception and family planning resources to adolescents and young adults;

• Tailoring our programs to meet our clients’ needs and offering specialized advocacy, care and outreach to LGBTQ youth;

• Facilitating and participating in collaboration among the many organizations in Maryland that improves outcomes for youth in systems such as juvenile justice, housing, reproductive justice, and education.

• Conducting research to contribute to the knowledge leading to improvement of health, risk reduction and reduction of HIV transmission;

• Training and educating professionals from a variety of disciplines regarding gender and sexuality, youth care and engagement, structural oppression, and HIV prevention

• Shaping and influencing local, state and national public policy as it impacts infants, children, youth and young adults living with or at risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS; and

Our vision is

To be a nationally recognized Center of Excellence, providing innovation and state of the art pediatric and adolescent prevention and care

To increase access to quality, inclusive and comprehensive healthcare that’s rooted in, responsive to, and in collaboration with the community

To be leaders in examining structural oppression and how it relates to all aspects of healthcare.

Our guiding frameworks are

Sex Positive

We prioritize and center conversations around choice, consent, pleasure, desire, decision making, sexual health, and healthy relationships.

Youth Centered

We tell youth what they want to know, instead of what health care professionals think they need to know.

Strengths Based

We view young people as resilient, creative, and resourceful with tangible strengths, motivation, and self-determination.

Harm Reductionist

We focus on strategies and goals that youth are already seeking out, without pushing for additional behavior change before youth are willing and prepared to take next steps.

Community Driven

We hire staff with identities and experiences affected by the HIV epidemic. We listen to, learn from, and value community needs, input, and direction for how to most effectively address your sexual health needs.

Social and Racial Justice

We understand that HIV is a racial justice issue, proven through the social determinants of health. We address, from a historical point of view, the complex and unique needs of low-income POC.

Staff

Many of us are: Native Baltimorean or Baltimore City residents, people of color, and/or LGBTQ. We have various educational backgrounds and many different life experiences. We reflect the young people, community, and clients we work with.