A Thanksgiving Celebration at AGUILAS and News About Our Latest Projects

By Eduardo Morales, Ph.D.–

AGUILAS wishes you a happy and safe holiday season! Our Thanksgiving social, scheduled for November 17 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the SF LGBT Center, will allow us to express gratitude for participants, staff, and the AGUILAS Board of Directors for their support and engagement throughout the year. We realize that, at this time, some people may feel the holiday blues for many different reasons. But we encourage you to take advantage of the wide range of local services available to you. At AGUILAS we are willing and able to help, providing assistance and referrals as needed.

Approaching the 30 Year Anniversary of AGUILAS HIV/AIDS Services

In the Spring of 2024, AGUILAS will celebrate its 30th year of providing HIV/AIDS services to the community. This is an important landmark anniversary for all of us. As we move forward in our efforts for the well-being of our community, we continue to seek funding opportunities and hope we will be successful in these efforts.

Meanwhile we continue to provide individual counseling and group interventions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Additionally, we will continue in 2024 with La Academia leadership training workshops as funded by the ViiV Healthcare Foundation. The topics for each of the four workshops will be 1) Legal Awareness for Latinx Persons; 2) Basic Financial Knowledge; 3) Effective Strategies for Advocacy; and 4) Efficient Communication Tools and Talking to the Media. Those who successfully complete the four three-hour workshop sessions will receive a certificate from AGUILAS and Alliant International University to confirm participation in the program. More information about AGUILAS’ services and La Academia is posted at our website: www.sfaguilas.org

New Partnerships

AGUILAS has been selected as a partner for a new research effort funded by the Centers of Disease Control and involving a team at UCSF. A goal is to increase the trust between healthcare providers and their patients who are Latinx cisgender men who have sex with men, such that patients receive sufficient quality healthcare. The study will employ qualitative and quantitative methods over a five-year period that will involve two phases, culminating in the development and piloting of an intervention in the second phase.

Recruitment efforts for this research project will not be realized until the fall of 2024 given the need to prepare and obtain the required approvals of the Institutional Review Board while collaborating with the CDC. AGUILAS, with its established network, hopes to assist with additional research efforts at UCSF, such as those concerning HIV/AIDS.

As these projects develop, I will attempt to keep you updated and informed about details and the progress, with the hope that readers who might directly benefit from such research could also participate. The findings of these research efforts will provide vital information for determining the types of services required to respond to the health needs of our community.

Eduardo Morales, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus, retired Distinguished Professor, and current adjunct professor at Alliant International University. He is also a licensed psychologist and a founder and current Executive Director of AGUILAS, an award-winning program for Latinx LGBTQ+. Of Puerto Rican decent, he has received numerous distinguished awards and citations, including being named a Fellow of 12 divisions of the American Psychological Association.