Date of Report: 05/2005
Source: New England AETC
The New England HIV Education Consortium (NEHEC), currently comprised of 13 collaborating agencies, has emerged as a dynamic example of regional partnerships in response to disparities in HIV/AIDS care and treatment in New England's minority and underserved communities. The mission of NEHEC is to address the HIV- related training, education, and support needs of health service support providers by offering innovative training formats that focus on the needs of racial, ethnic and linguistic minorities, as well as safety net providers in RWCA-funded settings. Background Initially, several community-based organizations (CBOs) working in the same areas and dealing with limited resources met to discuss coordinating their training and educational efforts. At the same time, federal funding became available for the Targeted Provider Education Demonstration projects (TPED). TPED funds supported the initial stages of coalition development and the New England AETC, through Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) funds, continued to support and sustain the efforts of NEHEC. Strategies Utilized for Regional MAI Collaboration and Coalition Development  | The group initially rotated meeting sites to facilitate familiarity with each partner's site. This fellowship helped the consortium members identify each others' strengths and expertise. The group is now the MAI-NEHEC regional local performance site coordinators' meeting. |  | | At meetings, each partner presented updates on MAI and related activities. Hardcopies of meeting minutes and flyers for upcoming events and training programs were distributed to all consortium members. | | | Consortium members were also able to identify geographic and population service areas that had gaps in training. This analysis helped participating agencies to address these gaps by coordinating their efforts. | |
Benefits of Regional MAI Collaboration and Coalition Development | NEHEC was able to significantly expand the pool of training faculty and increase the cultural and linguistic diversity of the faculty. | | | The depth of understanding of each partner's programs led to enhanced collaboration on products and trainings. | | | NEHEC is better able to meet the training needs of the region by spreading out the trainings geographically and throughout the year. | |
Selected Outcomes | In 2003, 30% of NEHEC training programs had participants and faculty from more than one New England AETC state | | | Most training faculty (60%) had conducted trainings for four or more sites. | | | In MA, 50% of the programs included multisite collaborations and "real partnerships." | |
NEHEC maximizes resources essential to building HIV training and education capacity in communities of color. The collaborations are cost-effective and allow NEHEC to increase capacity and sustainability of NEAETCs MAI efforts. For more information please visit: http://www.neaetc.org/_html/NEHEC/NEHEC.htm#Programs or contact Durrell Fox, NEHEC Project Director, at dfoxnehec@aol.com. | 
