For the past 5 years, Hope Center (the Behavioral Health division of the Riverside Health Hospital Network) has been awarded two NYS grants earmarked to help access hard-to-reach targets in the underserved communities of Yonkers and Mt. Vernon, NY. Their mandate was to attract Latina, Caribbean and African American woman as well as the MSM community to better understand their sexual status and the options afforded them to protect themselves against HIV, HepC and STDs.

By leveraging research and focus groups to better understand the unique challenges of reaching each audience we provided targeted communication triggers and built a grassroots campaign through branded street teams, social networking, SEA, online banner ads, Facebook postings, website and OOH boards.

The ultimate outcome was effective and far reaching. Two campaigns were developed – one that was HIV focused, and one that was HIV, STD and HepC focused. We uncovered mindsets and were able to provide tools to the hospital staff that created real connections and results with a strong call-to-action.