Collaborating with an urban community to develop an HIV and AIDS prevention program for black youth and families

This article describes a collaboration between academic researchers and residents of a low-income, inner-city community to develop and deliver an HIV and AIDS prevention program for Black youth. The Chicago HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project (CHAMP) Program was developed and implemented to decrease HIV and AIDS risk exposure among youth living in a community that has been dramatically affected by HIV and AIDS. The article outlines (a) phases in the collaborative process to develop the program; (b) strategies used to embed contextually relevant themes and activities that address individual and systemic factors influencing HIV and AIDS risk; (c) a process model, based on the CHAMP experience, that can be replicated to develop programs for other youth problems; (d) descriptions of the CHAMP preadolescent and early adolescent curricula; (e) and how university- and community-based facilitators were trained to collaborate as a team to implement the CHAMP Program. Information is also provided about delivering the program in a distressed urban setting.