Institute of Women & Ethnic Studies

IWES launched the STOP program in February of 2009 to promote HIV risk reduction among African American and Latino youth, ages 13-24, in the Greater New Orleans area. The prevalence of HIV & AIDS was alarming in the pre-disaster Gulf Coast, and the New Orleans region had the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases statewide, representing nearly half (45%) of all persons living with HIV in Louisiana (OPH/HAP, 2002). Post-disaster, youth in Louisiana are now at a perilous intersection of emotional distress, diminished health resources, and an extremely conservative political landscape supporting “abstinence-only” sexual education in schools.

To address these issues, IWES proposes the Social-Marketing Technology Outreach Project (STOP) as an enhancement and integration of existing youth HIV risk reduction projects, such as the Youth of Color Taskforce, or YOC (funded by the HIV/AIDS Prevention Program of the New Orleans Office of Public Health.), which engaged high risk black and Latino youth in focus groups and youth-led work groups; Media Advocates for Prevention, or MAP (funded by the CDC), which trains Black and Latino youth as Peer Advocates in HIV/AIDS prevention via interviewing their peers, writing role model stories and creating short videos; and also the School-based Health Center Community Engagement, or SBHC (in partnership with the  Louisiana Public Health Institute, LPHI, School Health Connection project funded by the Kellogg Foundation) to promote youth leadership development and advocacy so as to increase utilization of school-based health centers in New Orleans. Through STOP, a cohort of youth from these programs will receive specialized training in social marketing to create a multimedia HIV risk reduction campaign utilizing advanced technologies, with a goal to reach a minimum of 3000 youth of color in the greater New Orleans area by January 2010.

To follow our activities online, join STOP on Facebook, MySpace, & Twitter. On Facebook, search for the page “STOP(IWES)” and become our fan, or click here:

On MySpace, go to www.myspace.com/stop_nola and become our friend.
On Twitter, go to www.twitter.com/STOP_NOLA and follow our tweets to get weekly sex(t) alerts with safer sex tips.

To receive a STOP kit with female and male (Trojan Magnum) condoms with instructions, lubricant, safer sex tips, and resources on where to get free HIV testing in New Orleans, contact Iman at iman@iwesnola.org

If you’d like to become a corporate or organizational partner and display our campaign materials and get free promotion on our websites and in our STOP kits, contact Iman at iman@iwesnola.org, as well.