Build network of at least 10 student-run high school-based organizations to create powerful vehicles for DC teens to educate their peers about the facts and spread of HIV/AIDS infection.
Washington, DC has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the country – affecting mostly people of color. A 2001 CDC report stated that DC has 166 AIDS cases per 100,000 people and that “many [HIV positive] adults were likely infected during their teens and twenties and at least half of all new HIV infections in the US are among people under 25.” City Year will build a network of educated and engaged DC teens working to prevent their friends and fellow students from contracting HIV/AIDS.
City Year members organize students to launch their own school-based VYBE (Visionary Youth Becoming Empowered) chapters in at least 10 DC schools. City Year VYBE chapters work in their schools and form a citywide HIV education network for DC teens.
City Year will help launch 10 self-sustaining VYBE chapters in high schools creating a network of DC teens united to prevent the spread of HIV. The VYBE network will mobilize at least 150 student participants to reach at least 1,000 of their peers.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).