Women's Health Empowerment Program for HIV/AIDS Prevention
Informing and Empowering Homeless Mothers

Accurate health information is a crucial need for parents in homeless shelters. Many are young mothers who rarely get reproductive health care, who may be at risk for HIV, and who are uncomfortable discussing these deeply personal issues with shelter staff. The Partnership’s peer educators offer emotional support and information to educate and empower parents in family shelters.

The Women’s Health Empowerment Program for HIV/AIDS Prevention is a national model that relies on formerly homeless women and men who work as peer educators in family shelters throughout New York City, where most families are headed by young, single women. Peer educators, many of whom have not only overcome homelessness themselves but are living with HIV, play a vital role in helping to bring critical HIV prevention and health information to shelter residents.

The six-week series of workshops focuses on providing women with information and the tools they need to reduce their risk of HIV transmission. Topics cover basic HIV information, condom negotiation and proper use, women's health issues, and the relationship dynamics between men and women. After group sessions, the peers offer one-on-one counseling and support so shelter residents can discuss issues that they may be uncomfortable sharing in a group.

The Women’s Health Empowerment Program for HIV/AIDS Prevention is particularly successful in providing crucial information about HIV prevention. According to staff members, "Prevention messages are much more successful when they are delivered by a peer educator, especially a person who can explain to a group of young homeless women that she too once resided in a shelter, facing pressures and challenges similar to those they are now encountering in their daily lives."

The Partnership’s unique Peer Navigator project uses peer educators to work one-on-one with homeless women, especially those who are pregnant, to break down barriers to care and to help them “navigate” the health care system. They participate in Women’s Health Empowerment workshops to reach out to women in shelters, and can refer clients to The Partnership’s Access to Care program and community programs for additional services.