California: Fighting AIDS; Project Action Aims Disease Education at Black Youth

Project Action provides HIV and STD prevention education to teens in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The group, whose members receive training from public health officials, primarily targets black teens through churches, community groups and group homes, said Jonathan Buffong, who heads Project Action. Black youths are disproportionately at risk for HIV, according to CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, STD and TB Prevention.

On a recent Monday night at a group home in Rubidoux, Buffong and four other project volunteers spoke with three boys about first impressions and how they can often be proved wrong. People must have the courage to ask their potential sex partner if they have been tested for STDs, Buffong told the boys.

Jessica Bradford, 16, has volunteered with Project Action for three months. At the group home, she talked frankly to the boys about how people can get wrapped up in the moment and have risky sex. "They just have that feeling… and they just get into it," said Bradford. The volunteering is rewarding, she said, because, "We're telling people our age to do something good."

Project Action has announced plans for a one-day summit at San Bernardino's Central City Lutheran Mission on Aug. 27 where people can receive the latest information on HIV and get tested for free. The group's goal is to test 150 young adults, said Buffong.

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