Trainings and Graduation

Alliance Celebrates 61st Graduating Class of Peers

Find photos from the moving ceremony here (Photo credit: David Nager/Alliance) - 

(New York, N.Y.) — On Wednesday, November 29, Alliance for Positive Change celebrated the 61st graduating class of its Peer training program at a ceremony featuring graduates, families, and friends at its Midtown Central location.

For three decades, Alliance’s renowned Peer training program has provided New Yorkers living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with leadership and economic mobility opportunities.  NewYork-Presbyterian was the lead sponsor of the graduation. Other generous sponsors included Mutual of America and community partners Aurora Private Wealth, Corporate Synergies, and PPI Benefits Solutions.

Alliance’s Peer program is an intensive 8-week capacity-building and skills training program that harnesses the power of mentoring to help others initiate and maintain healthy behaviors. Participants learn about HIV, hepatitis C, STIs, harm reduction, outreach skills, overdose prevention, and more. Graduates become community leaders who use their lived experience and training to help fellow New Yorkers facing health challenges. Since the first class, Alliance has graduated more than 1,500 Peers.

“Alliance’s Peer training has equipped me with the awesome tools to handle various emotions, situations, and challenges. It has prepared me to be a well-informed advocate for prevention and treatment,” said Cindy S., an Alliance Cycle 61 Peer graduate. “Alliance has reinforced my belief that whatever I aspire to achieve in this organization—and in life—is within my reach.”

Cindy S. Photo: David Nager/Alliance

“We are proud to celebrate our graduates, who worked tirelessly to build their skills and expertise, and who will harness their own lived experiences to support others,” said Brenda Starks-Ross, Alliance Deputy Executive Director/COO. “Peers are truly the heart and soul of Alliance who expand and deepen our impact every day. Their work is a testament to the power of positive change for individuals and entire communities.”

During their training, Peers developed skills to coach and support New Yorkers to overcome health challenges, navigate systemic inequities, and achieve health and well-being. The Peer program connects low-income people to care and support; reduces the burden on under-resourced healthcare institutions; and creates more economic mobility for people who need it most. Each year, these community ambassadors connect with an estimated 15,000 New Yorkers.

About Alliance for Positive Change

Alliance for Positive Change is a leading multiservice organization that provides low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with access to quality health care, housing, harm reduction, coaching, and our renowned peer training and job placement program that cultivates leadership and economic mobility. Alliance opened in 1991, at the height of the HIV crisis as a welcoming community of transformation and opportunity. Today, we deliver on the promise of positive change with services and resources that equip people to navigate systemic inequities and achieve health and well-being. Learn about all the ways we inspire positive change at www.alliance.nyc.

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Alliance Celebrates 59th Graduating Class of Peers

Graduates will become community leaders helping others navigate systemic inequities and achieve health and well-being

Photos from the moving ceremony here (Photo credit: David Nager/Alliance)

For three decades, Alliance for Positive Change has provided New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with leadership and economic mobility opportunities through its renowned Peer training program.

On Monday, November 28th, Alliance celebrated the success of its 59th graduating class of the Peer Recovery Education Program (PREP) at a ceremony with graduates and special guests at The Door, its second consecutive graduation held there.

Alliance’s Peer Recovery Education Program (PREP) is a 6-week intensive capacity-building skills training program that harnesses the power of Peer mentoring to help others initiate and maintain healthy behaviors. PREP Cycle 59 participants received information on HIV, hepatitis C, STIs, harm reduction, outreach skills, overdose prevention, and more.

"My journey has been hard; I am a transwoman of color from Guyana. When I attended PREP Cycle 59, it was the first time I was given the chance to be myself. This experience has been life-changing for me [and] inspired me so much that I have decided to pursue the goal of becoming a social worker,” said Peer graduate Rare-Pearl in her address to her classmates at the ceremony. “Alliance helped me to set that goal, and I will work very hard to achieve it. I am no longer Rare-Pearl, the outcast, the shunned, the unworthy. I am a person who loves herself and is ready to reach back and help others come out of the darkness."

Peer graduates become community leaders who use their lived experience and training to help fellow New Yorkers facing health challenges. Since the first class in 1992, Alliance has graduated more than 1,500 people from its renowned Peer program.

During their training, Peers develop skills to coach and support New Yorkers to overcome health challenges, navigate systemic inequities, and achieve health and well-being. The Peer program connects low-income people to care and support, reduces the burden on under-resourced healthcare institutions, and creates more economic mobility for people who need it most. Each year, these community ambassadors connect with approximately 15,000 New Yorkers.

Funding for the Alliance Peer Recovery Education Program (PREP) is made possible through the generous support of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute.

About Alliance for Positive Change

Alliance for Positive Change is a leading multiservice organization that provides low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with access to quality health

care, housing, harm reduction, coaching, and our renowned peer training and job placement program that cultivates leadership and economic mobility. Alliance opened in 1991, at the height of the HIV crisis—a welcoming community of transformation and opportunity. Today, we deliver on the promise of positive change with services and resources that equip people to navigate systemic inequities and achieve health and well-being. Learn about all the ways we inspire positive change at www.alliance.nyc.

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Alliance Provides Narcan Training to New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein and District Staff

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(New York, N.Y.)— Alliance for Positive Change partnered with New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein’s office to provide an in-person training on how to identify and reverse drug overdoses by administering Naloxone. The Assembly Member and his district staff members received their Naloxone responder kits yesterday at his Avenue B office. Opioid overdose reversal medication can be used by non-medical professionals to temporarily reverse the effects of opioids, such as heroin or fentanyl, particularly in situations of overdose. The nonprofit conducts over 100 overdose prevention trainings annually for the community, corporations, local businesses, and elected officials.

The overdose crisis has become one of the most pressing issues of our time; opioid overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, and overdose deaths reached historic highs in New York City during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.  

The NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene reports that in the first two quarters of 2021, there were 1,233 overdose deaths in New York City, compared to 965 overdose deaths during the same period in 2020. COVID, combined with the rising prevalence of fentanyl, led to over 100,000 Americans losing their lives to drug overdoses from May 2020 to April 2021, up almost 30% from the previous year. We must give all New Yorkers the tools to protect against overdose.

“We are proud to partner with Assembly Member Harvey Epstein’s office to promote the health and safety of New Yorkers,” says Alliance for Positive Change Chief Program Officer of Prevention Services Ramona Cummings. “New York City is facing the same overdose crisis as many regions across our country, and we thank the Assembly Member and his staff for recognizing the need to gain the skills to prevent unnecessary deaths. We must work together to end this crisis.”

“The most complex public health challenges require all of us to play a part. We know a harm reduction model is very effective when it comes to preventing overdose deaths due to opioid use and knowing how to administer Narcan is a critical tool. We’re lucky to have organizations like Alliance for Positive Change doing the important work of keeping our communities safe through education and connections to services that address the root causes of public health crises. I want to thank them for their leadership and for training our staff,” said Assemblymember Harvey Epstein.

Founded more than 30 years ago amid the height of the AIDS epidemic, Alliance is a leading multiservice organization that provides low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with access to quality health care, housing, harm reduction, and job training. Alliance meets people where they are to access qualified healthcare, reduce risk, and explore harm reduction or recovery at their own pace. Alliance’s clinical interventions and supportive services include one-on-one counseling and coaching, education, and syringe exchange services.

About Alliance for Positive Change

Alliance for Positive Change is a leading multiservice organization that provides low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with access to quality health care, housing, harm reduction, coaching, and renowned peer training and job placement programs that cultivate leadership and economic mobility. Alliance opened in 1991, at the height of the HIV crisis—a welcoming community of transformation and opportunity. Today, Alliance delivers on the promise of Positive Change with services and resources that equip people to navigate systemic inequities and achieve health and well-being. Learn about all the ways we inspire Positive Change at www.alliance.nyc

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Alliance's “PATH to Jobs” Program Included in Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s Top Ten Requests For Community Project Funding

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—Innovative workforce development program puts New Yorkers in need on path to economic mobility; now eligible for $1 million in federal funding—

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(New York, N.Y.)—U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (New York’s 12th Congressional District) has selected Alliance for Positive Change’s “PATH to Jobs” peer workforce development program as one of the top ten projects she has submitted for federal Community Project Funding for FY2022. If chosen, the program will receive $1 million to vastly increase Alliance’s career readiness and job placement services, helping significantly more New Yorkers along their journeys toward recovery and economic independence.

“I thank Alliance for Positive Change and Sharen Duke, along with the entire dedicated staff, for hosting me at their facility,” Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said. “Every aspect of the Alliance’s mission is deeply committed to improving the lives of New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. They have created an environment that both helps and heals adults of all ages and backgrounds who are struggling to secure healthcare, jobs services, and nutritional support. It is incumbent upon legislators like myself to support organizations like Alliance for Positive Change and ensure they get the funding they need to continue the great work they are doing to help the people of New York City, especially as we recover from the COVID-19 crisis.”

“I am fiercely proud and often awed by the courage and tenacity of our Peers, making positive changes in their own lives, and then ‘paying it forward’ to help others,” said Sharen I. Duke, Alliance CEO & Executive Director. “Alliance is profoundly grateful for Congresswoman Maloney’s leadership and dedication to New Yorkers, and honored by the Congresswoman’s visit to Alliance, seeing us in action, and meeting the Peers who partner with us to provide training and support through the PATH to Jobs program.”

Founded 30 years ago amid the early years of the AIDS epidemic, Alliance serves low-income New Yorkers with a range of chronic health conditions and substance use challenges, offering them medical care, harm reduction, peer support, and housing assistance in their path towards health and stability. Since 1992, Alliance’s PATH to Jobs has provided career readiness and job placement services, including vocational education, coaching, supervision, training, benefits counseling about the impact of employment on public entitlements, and support in successfully attaining and sustaining employment. 

Graduates of this program find job placement opportunities in health and social service agencies across New York, and at Alliance—which has built its own Peer workforce, employing 130+ Peer workers trained by the program each year.

Scaling Alliance’s PATH to Jobs program will facilitate the creation of a centralized career readiness and job placement program across New York City. State certified Peer workers will be placed in part-time and full-time jobs in: managed care companies and Medicaid Health Homes; hospitals and community health centers; HIV service agencies; STD clinics; syringe exchange/opioid overdose prevention programs; substance use treatment clinics; supportive housing programs; and community-based organizations of all kinds.
 

About The Alliance for Positive Change

The Alliance for Positive Change supports lasting, positive change among low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. Focusing on underserved communities of color, our culturally competent, multilingual services remove structural barriers to accessing quality medical care, managing/overcoming substance use, escaping homelessness, and achieving economic mobility. We address the underlying issues that contribute to health inequity through individualized, full-service support based on a harm reduction approach designed to help New Yorkers lead healthier, more self-sufficient lives. Because everyone deserves the chance to feel better, live better, and do better. Learn more at www.alliance.nyc.