EHE Request for Application: Priority Population HIV Education & Testing

Purpose: Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) is a national initiative to achieve the important goal of reducing new HIV transmissions to less than 3,000 per year by 2030. The initiative identified seven Florida counties as part of Phase 1 — Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Miami Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, and Pinellas. As part of Ending the HIV Epidemic, the State of Florida (Florida), in partnership with local communities, will implement strategies to increase testing access during nontraditional hour. This funding period will end March 31, 2022.

Despite the wide-range availability of HIV testing services in Central Florida, the disproportionate disparities in new HIV diagnoses within Florida are still evident among Black and Hispanic/Latinx gay and bisexual men (Florida Department of Health, HIV/AIDS Section, 2019). With the addition of priority HIV testing services to improve health outcomes for young Black and Young Latinx (13-24) men who have sex with men (MSM)1 ; to increase HIV awareness to the aforementioned priority population by providing basic HIV education and prevention including safer sex practices and PrEP/PEP use, provide targeted HIV testing, provide referrals for PrEP/nPEP services, and provide referrals to HIV treatment if necessary. Clients to be served shall be individuals described as the priority population who experience barriers to care due to stigma of HIV within these communities. This scope of work is for recipients, specifically minority-owned organization(s)2, to increase the awareness of and education around HIV, and provide HIV testing to serve key priority populations3 through a variety of non traditional community engagement tactics across Orange County. The Recipients, with the guidance of the Florida Department of Health (Department) in Orange County Area 7 Program Office, will provide these services to the community.

Review the entire notice here: PRIORITY POPULATION EHE rfa