“When I joined Alliance for Positive Change in 2016, I was at a crossroads. I had recently returned home from prison and wanted to control my substance use. I was eager to start over. Was I going to continue down the path I’d been on, or move in a more positive direction? I didn’t know if I would succeed or fail, but I had to try.
”I am proud and grateful for where I am today. I learned so much by becoming an Alliance Peer—it has been a crucial part of my healing journey.
”As a Peer, I am a role model. I don’t always like going to the doctor, but I can’t encourage other people to visit the doctor if I’m not doing it myself! I’m transparent and honest. I always ask, “How can I show up for myself and others today?”
”I work with participants in Alliance’s women’s programs. It takes a lot of dedication. You have to have a passion for it. I make sure our participants get to their appointments and manage their health. My superpower is being honest and a good listener. That makes the biggest difference—showing up, building trust, and reminding people that change will come.
”Being a Peer is part of my own recovery. I show up for work, manage my responsibilities, and have a routine. I have a great network of people who are there when I need them, which makes all the difference for my mental health.
”Alliance makes it possible for so many New Yorkers to thrive! That’s why I am asking you to support Alliance with a generous gift today. You have the superpower to change lives by donating today at www.alliance.nyc/power.
Thank you for standing with us!”
—Nicky B., Alliance Peer Superhero
Hope and purpose
“When I first came to Alliance for Positive Change, my goal was to get back to work. I enrolled in Alliance’s Peer training and secured employment. And I gained so much more along the way!
”In 2015, I was processing my HIV diagnosis and trying to find my way in the world. I’d spent about three years in and out of hospitals, I was finally ready to be part of the real world again. I started working with an Alliance case manager who connected me with quality medical care and other basic needs. With that strong foundation in place, I enrolled in Alliance’s Peer program—and that’s when things really turned around for me.
”I committed, and proudly stuck with the 8-week training, even when it was hard. I learned how to educate others about safer sex, harm reduction, and navigating health systems. I was honored to be selected to speak about my experience at the Peer graduation ceremony.
”When I was hired as an Alliance Peer, it was exciting to take the knowledge I’d gained and share it with others. Today, I primarily work with the LGBTQ+ community, leading educational groups and supporting participants with HIV medication adherence, which saves lives.
”Being a Peer helped me make positive changes in my own life by giving me HOPE and PURPOSE. I go to the doctor regularly and I stay on top of my health. Alliance brought me back to who I was and helped me feel in control of my own life. I use the tools I’ve gained by being a Peer to create a positive change for me and for each person I encounter.
”My Peer superpower is my ability to listen and connect with my community. My clients often tell me that hearing my story inspires them. I’ve been in their shoes—and today, I’m thriving. I’m proof that they can, too.
”Alliance makes it possible for so many New Yorkers to thrive! That’s why I am asking you to support Alliance with a generous gift today. You have the superpower to change lives by making your gift to Alliance at www.alliance.nyc/power.
”Thank you for being our valued partner in positive change!”
—Anthony R., Alliance Peer Superhero
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 Announces New Deputy Executive Director/Chief Program Officer Tamara Green
Alliance is proud to welcome Tamara Green as our new Deputy Executive Director/Chief Program Officer. Tamara has decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, most recently as Chief Program Officer at The Fortune Society. Before that, she served as Associate Commissioner at the NYC Department of Homeless Services, and held leadership positions at Communilife and Harlem United. Welcome, Tamara!
Photo: David Nager/Alliance
Community Promise Stories: "J"
I’d like to go by “J.” I’m 59 years old. I joined Alliance’s CHOICES in April after I overdosed three straight times when I took what I thought was heroin. If the ambulances hadn't saved me, I'd be dead.
I had been doing heroin, crack, angel dust, pills, and valium for 45 years. Heroin hadn't been "fun" for me for a while, and I’d tried to quit it a lot. My body craved it, and I was in serious pain without it. Heroin you feel physically. Crack is mental. Without heroin, your body hurts everywhere.
Heroin was also the worst drug for me because the things I did to make money for it were dehumanizing. Some of these things landed me in jail, and I was taking methadone when I was in jail, but when I got out, I'd crave heroin and start all over again. Nothing had changed.
After that third overdose in April, I said no more. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital from the Bronx referred me to Alliance, and after consulting the staff here I started taking Suboxone. They eased me into it with low doses, called microdosing, and I take Suboxone twice a day.
I come to group therapy meetings here. I don't talk much, but I listen to other people. It helps a little, but being on Suboxone is helping me more. Now I don't even think about heroin. I feel proud of myself. Oh yeah I do! I don't wake up sick anymore and have to go get money and get to a spot to get my fix. It's been over three months. I feel like I got another chance.
Now with my extra time and money, I want to take care of myself with healthier food and nicer clothes, and enjoy my apartment. I'm not the most social guy. I like to walk around, go to parks. I've always had anxiety and depression. I know that's not going to go away just because I got sober.
I receive social security because of my anxiety and depression. I have PTSD. I was seeing a psychiatrist with another program, but I was discharged and cut off from them. Alliance is helping me find another psychiatrist.
Thank God I got on Suboxone. Life isn't going to be easy, I still have these challenges that I can't control, but I'm glad to be sober.
I'd tell people who are interested in Suboxone it's your choice, I respect whatever you do. It's their own choice, I can't tell anyone what to do. But I know it worked for me.
Positive Change Heroes: Arnaldo "AJ" Jara
1. Tell us a little about yourself, who you are, and what brought you to Alliance?
AJ: I've been at Alliance a little over 14 years, now. I got my Bachelor's in Psychology and had been working with children ages 3-6 who had behavioral issues. Then I started working with adult populations and that brought me to Alliance.
I came to NJ from Peru when I was 3. I grew up speaking Spanish and English. I was raised and stayed in Hudson County.
I'm an avid runner, so I love getting some miles in before work.
2. Have you always been into running?
AJ: Not at all. I was a terrible runner and athlete as a kid, but I got into running when COVID-19 started. While everything was closed, I needed to get outside. At first, I couldn't even run a 1/2 mile. But I needed to be doing something, and the runner’s high is real. Now I run along the waterfront, across the George Washington Bridge, anywhere. I've done many half marathons and I've run solo marathons.
3. Shifting gears a little, can you tell me about what you do at Alliance and what your program does?
AJ: I'm Director of Care Management at Alliance. Care Management is our Health Homes program which serves NYC Medicaid-recipients who have a qualifying condition. The program aims to reduce emergency hospitalizations and long-term health issues. We work with our participant’s doctors, state and federal housing and other agencies, and we accompany them to important appointments. Many of these patients have trouble navigating all their health troubles and the Health Homes program significantly improves all health outcomes, from HIV viral loads to stable housing to the interpersonal relationships our participants have.
4. And how long have you been in Care Management?
AJ: The whole 14+ years I’ve been here. I started as an Assistant Case Manager (what Care Coordinators were called). While I’m currently in a leadership position overseeing 4 teams, I’m still hands on with clients meeting with them and even accompanying them to the field as needed.
5. Is there an achievement or contribution to this program you are particularly proud of?
AJ: Seeing participants get their health to a level of stability makes me happy. A lot of them continue to come here, where they feel safe, and feel treated with respect.
It also makes me happy to see Peers become full-time staff. It's amazing to see them better themselves health-wise, and professionally. Currently some of the people in our Care Management team used to be former peer interns.
6. If you could change anything about the healthcare system, what would you do?
AJ: I'd put more of those resources into treating dementia, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. The elderly is a population that continues to be overlooked who, in my opinion, need the support the most. I’d make access to critical services such as homecare services and 24/7 care become a standard of care.
7. If you could do anything in addition to what you are doing now, what would it be?
AJ: If I won the lottery, I'd make sure the people in my life were taken care of before I spent anything on myself. If time and money weren't factors, I would get even more into running, I'd be a running coach and fly everywhere to run around the world.
8. So what should people know about you outside of work, besides your running?
AJ: AJ outside of work loves peace and quiet. Having a life outside of work is super important. You need to have that; work shouldn't be everything. I’m also an avid animal lover, I have two cats and a chihuahua at home. The cats are mine, the chihuahua is my fiancé’s.
Outreach Coordinator Ashley's harm reduction article published in City Limits
Ashley Lynch, Outreach Coordinator for our CHOICES harm reduction program, wrote an article for City Limits about the need for greater investments in harm reduction. “Syringe Service Programs are another crucial component of harm reduction. These initiatives not only help prevent the spread of infections, but also establish points of contact where individuals can begin to build trust with a community provider and access resources, counseling, and referral services. By meeting people where they are, syringe exchange programs break down barriers to seeking support, no matter what that looks like for the individual” Ashley writes.
At Alliance, we believe in promoting the dignity, health, and safety of people who use drugs. We also support the journey of people entering or sustaining recovery from substance use, on International Overdose Awareness Day, and every day of the year!
Community Promise Stories: Rafael
My name is Rafael. I’m originally from the Lower East Side. I’m currently staying by the McDonalds on Madison Street near here. I appreciate being able to come to Alliance LES Harm Reduction Center for safer use supplies, socks, and all that. I’m a participant in Alliance’s CHOICES program.
I got trained in how to use Narcan in 2004, by the LESHRC team at your old site on Allen Street. The first overdose I saw was in 2013. It happened to one of my friends. At the time, it was actually just heroin, no fentanyl or xylazine. Nowadays overdoses are a lot more common. Just today I had to use Narcan on my boyfriend. And yesterday I Narcan-ed someone else.
These days, I mostly use crack/cocaine. I go to the methadone clinic across the street from LESHRC, which helps me reduce cravings for heroin, but it doesn’t help with my emotional needs like coming here does, and of course they don’t give me the safer use kits I need, like the sterile syringes.
I’m a hard worker, I’ve done HVAC, roofing, anything that comes my way. I’m looking for more steady work, and I’m going to try to apply to Alliance’s Peer Recovery Education Program.
My boyfriend says I have so much potential and can manifest anything I put my mind to.”
I love helping people. I don’t get nervous or scared anymore when someone overdoses, because I’ve seen it so many times. I notice the way their body or face looks, and I ask them what their name is, where they are, to see if there’s any kind of response.
If I could share one message with people about drug use, it would be that it’s okay to ask for help. I train all my friends how to use Narcan and how to test drugs for fentanyl and xylazine. I love what y’all do here at LESHRC. You’ve helped me save dozens of people’s lives. I hope to work here one day and keep up the good work.
Community Promise Stories: "T"
I like to go by “T.” I’m a 34-year-old Hispanic man from Brooklyn. I describe myself as fun, laid-back, intelligent, hard-working, God-fearing, and a dog dad.
I’m in Alliance’s CHOICES program because I want to stop using opioids permanently, and I recognized I need help. I joined the program in February, after a small relapse. I had seen a post about CHOICES program on Facebook and reached out for help.
I got started taking opioids in High School, when my friends and I had “trail mix parties”—it’s pretty common—where we’d raid the medicine cabinets in one of our homes and take whatever we could find, not even knowing what they were. For all of my 20s, I was working exclusively to pay bills and buy more pills. My mental health was worsening, and my family was worried about me.
I tried stopping many times, promising “I will never make myself feel this way again,” but this disease is insidious. Triggers for me to go back to using had been family issues, and as a result of my substance use and relapses, I lost their trust, my apartment, experienced paranoia and psychosis, and had to sell my car to fund my drug use.
Every time I tried to stop, my withdrawal symptoms were like the worst flu you have ever had plus spasms and feeling like you were literally crawling out of your skin. I want to stop using permanently for myself, for my own benefit. I deserve a future.
My recovery coach Ashley was there for me and helped me figure out a treatment plan. I currently take prescribed Sublocade* and I’m receiving regular counseling services and mental health services. I know that all of this is essential for me to reach my goal of permanent sobriety. I haven’t taken opioids in the past 90 days.
The allure for opioids was the inability to properly cope with life, and the funny thing we all do is only remembering the good times we had while high, not all the bad.
Right now, I’m in a long-term facility, getting services from there, in addition to these at Alliance.
I love music, dancing, cooking, movies, the pool, hanging with friends and family, going for long drives to clear my head. I miss the old days when I was carefree, drug-free and cruising the streets on NYC in my yellow Mustang. These are the things I’m looking forward to doing more of.
* Sublocade is similar to Suboxone, a form of medically-assisted treatment that reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings, helping people stop using opioids.
Community Promise Stories: Adriane
My name is Adriane. I’m in Alliance’s CHOICES program because it gives me structure and community. I’ve been taking methadone for almost 30 years now, first to stop using heroin, and lately because of the pain I experience from gout and arthritis.
I started taking heroin in 1989, after smoking crack for some time. It was so hard on me, hard to afford, and dehumanizing. My kids and I had become homeless in 1988. I love my kids, but I didn’t feel the same love I tried to give them when I was a kid myself. I cried a lot as a kid. My father wasn’t one to give love and affirmation, and my mother wasn’t into motherly love, although we did have a good relationship during the last six months of her life when she was dying in a hospital, and it was nice to bond.
Throughout my life, I’ve used humor to mask depression. People see me as a comedienne, and I like to make others laugh, but sometimes I feel frustrated that people don’t take me seriously in the moment.
I worked all my life, I worked in banks, the post office, and NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority). Sometimes people don’t realize that people using drugs like crack and heroin can hold down jobs, even if they’re experiencing homelessness.
I never regretted starting methadone treatment, and it helped me stop using heroin, but it wasn’t enough for my soul. I found Alliance after two of my daughters and my son came here for help with counseling and housing. I like doing the harm reduction groups here with Joel, Eddie, George, Tom, and them. Tom can tell if I need to say something about my depression or issues I’m dealing with. Alliance has lifted me at times when I needed it, when I was feeling suicidal.
I like the arts and crafts projects and the activities like potting plants. I appreciate helping others and this place gives me that urge to want to help people. Is life easy? No. I will probably rely on methadone for the rest of my life -- and I’m almost 75 years old. But I am always learning from life, and I’m trying to keep growing.
This Wednesday, I’m taking a trip with my kids to Florida, and then a train trip alone as part of an AARP group, going across the U.S.