The Fens, Boston, MA | Boston Medical Center
One of the continuing barriers to effectively addressing HIV in the Commonwealth, as noted by both Getting to Zero and the Boston Medical Center, is the lack of popular knowledge about the realities of living with HIV, and of healthy and safe behaviors and options for those engaging in high-risk behaviors. This project takes an innovative new approach to social work through the “seeding” approach to engagement and deployment of an extended network of PWIDs who are MSM and engaging in transactional sex to educate their peers and other members of their social network. “Seeding” involves the incentivization of successful education within the community, specifically in ‘the Fens’ region of Boston, wherein the initial contact individual benefits from their fellow community members demonstrating their newfound knowledge by successfully answering online questions related to HIV and safe practices. At the end of this process, BMC hopes to have fully engaged at least 80 participants in this program.