THE CITY
OF
NEW YORK
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor
Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. Commissioner
_______________________________________________________________ nyc.gov/health
April 29, 2008 Sam Sebiyam, PMO BSTDC, Re: Xavior Ford Cells in the City Adolescent STD/HIV Prevention Project Justification Mr. Xavior Ford was selected because he is the creator of the model and he has already received clearance from the NYC Board of Education to enter the schools and work with students on the use of new technologies for STD/HIV and pregnancy prevention. Mr. Ford, has over four years of expertise in internet web site design. Under the direction of Xavior Ford, youth will develop videos in their own text language, based on their experiences and will use short videos to outreach and market HIV/STI testing sites among other teens. Youth will easily share their health education videos on their Myspace pages, instant messaging as well as cell phones. This project process will be video taped and the key prevention messages with music and sound bites will be produced and distributed to teenagers and youth providers during major youth events such as the Get Connected Youth Conference and Youth Pride fest. Project Goals: Goal 1: To increase youth knowledge on the importance of HIV/STI testing and provide information on where youth can receive testing. Goal 2: To engage African American and Latino LGBT youth in the peer education process of using graphic arts video sharing and trendy text messaging outreach health education. Goal 3: To provide youth in AIP’s Outreach Coalition with new innovative ways to do outreach An additional $500.00 will be added to Mr. Ford’s $3,000 budget to pay the teenagers for their weekly work on the project. Attendance sheets will be maintained by Project Stay and the BSTDC. Millicent L. Freeman Director of Outreach and Public Education