NJCRI awarded a five year grant for the LGBT community

A new fully staffed LGBT public health service center is expected to bring sustainable change in the lives of the Newark areas community. It will be modeled after Project WOW LGBT Center. Back in October the North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI) said it was awarded a five year LGBT Public Health grant. With the grant the new center will be opening soon.

With $500,000 for 5 years, from the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services the program will service adult LGBT ages 25 and over. The program is called the PRIDE Project: Taking PRIDE in One-Self through Healthy Living. It will be led by Julio Roman, Director of Community, Prevention and LGBTQ Programming. Roman said he plans to enhance and expand the community treatment, testing, navigation, and client empowerment activities. They will through the new center expand access to care for racial and ethnic minority LGBT individuals with substance use disorders and/or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders who are considered high risk.

NJCRI will serve the northern New Jersey areas of Essex, Union, Bergen, and Hudson counties at the new program. The main focus will be on the greater Newark area—the state’s HIV/AIDS epicenter.

“This award will create a bridge to lifesaving prevention, substance use and mental health programming that aids the Adult LGBTQ community in accessing treatment, testing, navigation, and client empowerment activities to an often forgotten LGBTQ population,” said Roman. “We look forward to providing the Newark & Northern NJ LGBTQ adult community with a safe space of its own.”

NJCRI is excited for the program expansion. Staff are looking forward to serving the community. The award will fill a gap for services that NJCRI says are currently not yet funded. And it will allow the organization to enhance its current services.

To learn more about NJCRI and its services please visit njcri.org.