FRIENDS announced they were the recipient of a $67,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health.  The majority of this grant will be used as start up capital for a Rural Transportation Program.  This program will enable FRIENDS to provide transportation for clients in outlying areas to medical appointments at the Heart of Illinois HIV/AIDS Center in Peoria, Illinois. Remaining dollars will be used for the Emergency Rent & Utility Assistance programs.

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The MPowerment Project is a peer-to-peer education/prevention program designed for young gay/bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 29.  It ties HIV risk-reduction to other needs, such as developing friendships, having fund and enhancing self-esteem.  Thus, a social focus has become the central theme of the Project.

The MPowerment Project creates settings where young men can express their identities with each other, find support, and band together to take action on issues of importance to them.  The program's design draws from the theory of diffusion of innovations, which states that members of a social system are most likely to adopt new behavior practices (ie., safer sex) when they see their peers adopting the behavior and communicating that they feel it is desirable and important.  Community change thus comes about through a process of informal communication and modeling by peers within their interpersonal networks.

The MPowerment Project operates successfully through the coordinated efforts of the Peoria City/County Health Department and FRIENDS, Project Coordinators, A Core Group, Project Volunteers and a Community Advisory Board.

For more information call the FRIENDS office at 309.671.2144 or Randy at the Peoria City/County Health Department, 309.679.6028.