Causes: AIDS, Health, Health Care, Job Training

Mission: CEG''s focus is on developing programs and plans which can be replicated elsewhere. CEG has developed innovative educational programs to serve communities hardest hit by HIV/AID. CEG assists communities of color in overcoming cultural and systemic barriers to accessing critical HIV/AIDS information, and have facilitated community-directed processes aimed at building bridges to health, planning/policy, and funding processes.

Results: Each year our outreach team tests 5,000 individuals; our CHAMPS program graduates 40 new community health workers; 50 high risk women successfully complete our SISTA program; 264 men and women participate in our on site AA/NA meetings; and our capacity building efforts reach 26 local organizations.

Target demographics: Our target population resides or congregates in our community, DC’s Wards 7 and 8, and consists of heterosexual Black men and women ages 18-64.  These two Wards form a community which is over 90% Black , has the highest unemployment rates and the highest percentage of families living in poverty in the District . These wards also have the highest rates of new HIV infection.

Programs: CEG currently offers a variety of services including:1) Training & Technical Assistance includes capacity building, program development, needs assessment, organizational development, diversity training, organizational mentorship, leadership development, and resource development. 2) Social Marketing & Media Outreach includes conducting focus groups, materials and message testing, development of marketing materials, reaching niche markets, developing marketing materials and health promotion. 3) Community-Based Research and Evaluation includes empirical research, program evaluation, needs assessments, developing evaluation plans, survey design, development of evaluation instruments, conducting rigorous data analysis for quality assurance and monitoring.