Community Promise Stories: Joseph

Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

I’m Joseph and I’m from New York City. I was raised in Queens. I dropped out of school in seventh grade but later got my GED and went to college. I was proud to be the first in my family to do that.  

I’m an entertainer, I love entertaining. I’ve been a dancer and a choreographer for over 40 years. I’ve been in recovery for over 20 years now. I’m a member of, and a big believer in the organization Rehabilitation Through the Arts.  

Let’s talk about it. What is Rehabilitation Through the Arts? 

RTA is an organization for people serving time, like I was, who care about the arts. Some of them have a professional background like I’d had, and others don’t. But for people whose reason for staying sober is the arts, this is a supportive community. And when I went to an RTA meeting, I was asked to write answers to the question “Who am I?” and it was the hardest thing I ever did. I wrote something so deep, I couldn’t recite it without breaking down crying.  

I’ve got this great network through RTA. They want me to come back and talk to prisoners about my experience. I would totally do that, but my schedule keeps me busy, and I need to preserve my wellness and not overburden myself. 

Was trying to be sober the reason you started taking Suboxone [the medication widely prescribed for people with substance use dependency]? When did you start taking Suboxone? 

No, I was already sober for many years. I was self-medicating with Suboxone. I had put my body through a lot with my addiction, and Suboxone helped the pain. I started buying illegal Suboxone in prison, and then when New York State legalized it for inmates, I got it legally.  

Is there a big Suboxone market in prison? If so, why do you think that is? 

Yeah there definitely is. I started buying it in 2012. I think a lot of people in prison want to stop using, but they know detox is rough. But they also want to get high, so it’s a tough balance. Suboxone kind of kills the high from opioids, so it’s like a waste of your money to take drugs if you’re also on Suboxone, which a lot of people in prison found out the hard way. 

What do you think is a big reason people who want to be sober struggle with it, with or without Suboxone? 

Pain. Emotional or physical pain. Or a lot of times it’s both. In my situation, it was more about loving the lifestyle of party, party, party, and then not being able to deal with the comedown.  

When you were using drugs, what were your drugs of choice? 

I used a lot of cocaine. It came with the lifestyle, I was a professional breakdancer in the 1980s. I got introduced to coke on tour. Whenever I’d snort, I’d get these awful nose bleeds, so I freebased. And I got into a vicious cycle of robbing and stealing to buy cocaine and going to prison. I finally had enough during my last time in jail. 

When did you start coming to Alliance LES Harm Reduction Center? 

When I was released from prison. Alliance has a great program that helps people adjust to life outside. My guys Ruben and Eugene really helped me out, and when we talked Suboxone, they told me about the program here. So I’ve been seeing Dr. Jeffery for about two years now, he checks in on my response to Suboxone.  

Are you accessing any other services here? 

No, not really. I work full-time, although I’m currently on medical leave after having hip surgery. I actually refused a prescription of Oxys after my surgery, and I’ve just kept moving, and I’m healing up great. But no, my reentry program was about six months, and after that I’ve stuck to the Suboxone program with Dr. Jeffery. Great guy. I completely trust him.  

I ask because I know a lot of people in recovery need stability and groups are helpful for them. 

Yes, absolutely. I’m all about stability, I have my little routines. And I’ve got a great support system in my life right now. I’m in a good relationship. I’m healing up and doing some choreography. I go back to work in a few weeks. And I’m a dog owner.  

Alliance for Positive Change Celebrates 64th Graduating Class of Peers

On Wednesday, May 14, Alliance for Positive Change celebrated the 64th graduating class of its renowned Peer training program. The ceremony – which included 13 graduates - was held at Alliance Midtown Central headquarters, with over 75 guests in attendance. 

You can find photos and videos from the moving ceremony here.

For over three decades, Alliance for Positive Change’s renowned Peer training program has provided New Yorkers living with and affected by HIV and other chronic conditions with leadership and economic mobility opportunities. Peer graduates become community leaders who use their lived experience and training to help fellow New Yorkers facing health challenges.

Alliance for Positive Change’s Peer training program is an intensive eight-week capacity-building and skills training program that harnesses the power of mentoring to help others initiate and maintain healthy behaviors. Through the training, participants learn how to help break down barriers to health care access and become leaders in their communities. Alliance for Positive Change employs over 100 trained Peer Workers who provide prevention education, HIV and hepatitis C screening, linkage to care, harm reduction support, overdose prevention, accompaniment to appointments, and more to thousands of New Yorkers across the city.

"I enrolled in Peer training because I wanted to help others navigate health challenges. Peer training has empowered me to turn that idea into action," said Laverne Bailey, the graduate testimonial speaker. “Along with learning how to meet our community’s needs and create a supportive community of our own, Peer training made me confident and motivated to share my knowledge to help other people access HIV and hepatitis C screenings, prevention education, and other resources that improve health.”

“As role models, Peers are both empowered and powerful,” said Sharen I. Duke, Alliance CEO & Executive Director. “And this is the essence of Peer training: understanding your inner power and translating it externally through role modeling and through the sharing of lived experiences. I am thrilled to celebrate Alliance’s newest Peer graduates as they apply their healthcare knowledge and personal experiences to help others.”

Presenting Sponsor Avita Pharmacy was in attendance and joined by sponsors Corporate Synergies and Aurora Private Wealth.

“Avita is proud to once again sponsor Alliance for Positive Change’s renowned peer education program,” said Avita Pharmacy CEO, Michael Yount. “We applaud this year’s graduates, who epitomize leadership and the future of health outreach, as well as those who follow in their footsteps. It is an absolute honor to partner with Alliance on their crucial mission of helping people navigate systemic health inequities and achieve true wellness.”

About Alliance for Positive Change

Alliance for Positive Change is a leading multiservice organization that provides low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions with access to quality health care, housing, harm reduction, coaching, and our renowned peer training and job placement program that cultivates leadership and economic mobility. Alliance opened in 1991, at the height of the HIV crisis—a welcoming community of transformation and opportunity. Today, we deliver on the promise of Positive Change with services and resources that equip people to navigate systemic inequities and achieve health and well-being. Learn about all the ways we inspire Positive Change at www.alliance.nyc.

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City-wide Consumer Advisory Council Meeting

Alliance joined the NY HIV planning Council town hall event in mid-April, participating in panel discussions with other HIV and multiservice nonprofits that have Client Advisory Boards. The groups present spoke of how important and necessary it is for nonprofits to have a CAB. 

Alliance’s Advocacy Project Manager Luis Worrell spoke on how important it is to hear from the people we serve. He quoted a saying that our CEO Sharen Duke and Deputy CEO/COO Brenda Starks-Ross often repeat:  “it is because of the consumers that we are here and we work for the consumers."

Alliance-Authored Study Published in American Journal of Public Health "Black Women First"

Alliance for Positive Change provides direct services to over 1,000 Black women in New York City every year, and provides health workshops specifically to advance health outcomes. Much of this work includes care management and medication assistance for cisgender and transgender Black women with HIV. Our work was recently documented for the peer-reviewed American Journal for Public Health in an article titled “Using Bundled Interventions to Improve Health Outcomes for Black Cisgender and Transgender Women: Findings From the Black Women First Initiative.” Co-authored by Alliance’s Director of Evaluation Dr. Erin McKninney-Prupis, the article explains the successes of these vitally important programs. These include long-term viral load suppression:

“In the 12-month postenrollment period, 85.0% of women reached viral suppression and 74.3% were retained in care.”

Share this important work on Instagram or Facebook.

Funded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration and the US Department of Health and Human Services, many of these interventions are already being cut or eliminated entirely. This makes the existing reporting on the proven success of effective interventions all the more important to study.

Positive Change Heroes: Niko Flowers

1.       Can you share a little about who you are, and what do you do?

Niko: I’m Niko Flowers. I’m a health educator. I’ve been working for Alliance for Positive Change for two years, and I’ve been a spokesmodel for HIV Stops With Me for 10 years. I’m the 4th floor receptionist at Alliance for Positive Change Midtown Central. I’m also involved in our Health Homes Care Management, helping people get connected with services.  

2.       You’ve been providing HIV awareness trainings for a long time, right?

Niko: Oh yes, for over 20 years. I’m 34 years of living with HIV and I’ve always wanted to help remove stigma by sharing my story. I’ve led trainings in schools, disclosing my HIV status to young people to make them aware. I became a health educator so I could be more than a speaker and also break down HIV 101 for people to really understand it, prevention and treatment. 

3.       And you’re a prominent spokesmodel with HIV Stops With Me. What is that?

Niko: Yes, I’ve been a spokesmodel for 10 years now. HIV Stop With Me is a New York State advertising campaign with a mission is to encourage testing, awareness, and treatment. We have 30 spokesmodels across the state appearing in glamorous, educational billboards. Because of stigmas, people still don’t know their status, and HIV is totally manageable today. My HIV levels are undetectable, which means it is untransmittable, and everyone can get there with testing and treatment.  

I’ve been involved in it for 10 years now. We put advertisements across billboards and public spaces, i.e. train stations, bus stops, and subways.  

They look for people who can talk about their experience and have really made it their business to educate themselves on their conditions. So we do annual trainings, then get dolled up and have fun photo shoots to destigmatize being open about your status, because there is still stigma. 

4.       How did you get involved with HIV Stops With Me?

Niko: About 10 years ago I saw an HIV Stops With Me ad on 14th Street of someone I knew. I asked them to connect me with it. I wanted to be a more public messenger, and the group that runs it saw I’m in it for the right reasons, so like all the spokesmodels I participated in annual trainings, shared more of my experience, which you can read about at Niko - HIV Stops With Me. And of course we take fabulous photoshoots that appear on ads in subways, billboards, and everywhere. I’m not ashamed and I think that helps remove stigmas. 

5.       What’s your favorite photo campaign from HIV Stops With Me? 

Niko: That’s so tough because I really love them all. Can I say two of them? It's between “Slay” and “Hardcore Treatment Advocate.” “Slay” was from 2023 and I think “Hardcore Treatment Advocate” was from 2019.  

The message on “Slay” is “Meds keep me Undetectable and Untransmittable. I manage my physical, mental, and sexual health. I’m slaying HIV.”  

That one was all over the trains in the city. I never saw it but lots of people saw it. I just saw the new campaign “CEO of My Life” on the subway in Brooklyn, which was pretty cool. We’ve got all the ads on the walls here at Alliance.  

6.       When did you first come to Alliance?

Niko: March 2023. I came here to work on a program we had with Tangelo, a food delivery service for people with chronic health conditions that helps them stay healthy. I loved it, and I loved my boss, Ox. I love Ox for his work ethic, patience when I’m trying to learn new skills, and the trust. 

Before 2023, I took the Certified Peer Recovery Advocate training. And last year I took the Peer Recovery Education Program (cycle 62.)  

I knew most of the information. Our trainer Ms. Joyce was like ‘Niko you already know this information but you’d be good for the other people in the training, so come in.’ So I’ve always been about continuing education, especially for health care issues.  

7.       What motivates you day-to-day at Alliance?

Niko: Being present for this moment in time. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever, so I try to be my best self, and help out everyone here at Alliance, my coworkers, my bosses, the participants we serve, because everyone has unique challenges, and helping people find the best programs for them brings me a lot of joy. 

8.       What do you do for fun?

Niko: When I’m not modeling, haha? I love reading, and watching TV and movies. Sometimes when I’m watching a good movie, I’ll be able to accurately predict what a character’s about to say. Right now, enjoying I’m watching Beauty in Black on Netflix.

9.       If you could do anything in addition to what you are doing now, what would it be? 

Niko: I’d do more health education in schools like I used to. As a matter of fact, I’m going to make some calls today and get back to that before the school year is over.

Chief Photography Officer David Nager Named NY1's New Yorker of the Week

Chief Photography Officer David Nager’s amazing decades of work at Alliance was recognized by NY1 Spectrum News as he was named this week’s New Yorker of the Week. David has photographed over 30 classes of Peer Recovery and Education Program (PREP), hundreds of trainings for Certified Peer Recovery Coach (CRPA) and other career-readiness interventions. His photos tell the story of Alliance and the people who have come through our doors. When asked why he remains so committed to this work, he always gives the same answer, “It’s the People.” Thank you, David!

Alliance Speaks at City Hall against Syringe Exchange restrictions

Alliance joined a half dozen fellow harm reduction providers at City Hall on Friday to speak out against proposed legislation that would limited syringe exchange programs. Outreach Coordinator Eliot Thompson spoke to the members of the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addiction to oppose Int 0868-2024 - which limits outreach and Int 1169-2025 which affects our ability to operate SSPs and creates more onerous data entry. Alliance was joined by Housing Works, VOCAL-NY, St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction, Drug Policy Alliance, and OnPoint NYC. Healthcare and harm reduction champion Senator Gustavo Rivera joined virtually to speak against the bills.

Food and Nutrition Services Director Pens Op-ed for City Limits on Food Access

Melissa Gallanter, Food and Nutrition Services Director at Alliance, wrote an op-ed on the subject of food access, which was published in City Limits today. The op-ed addresses the need to invest in essential food access services for low-income New Yorkers. Alliance’s serves over 20,000 fresh meals every year, in addition to thousands of bags of shelf-stable pantry goods.

“New York City must increase funding for community-based food programs, ensuring organizations like ours can meet growing demand and prepare for compromised federal support.

Investment in these local efforts is an investment in public health. Access to healthy food is a social determinant of health—low-income, food-insecure adults experience higher rates of chronic health conditions. For example, in the South Bronx, food insecurity affects nearly a quarter of residents; 20 percent of adults in the community are living with diabetes, which is four times the rate of food-secure neighborhoods. Therefore, every dollar spent on nutrition education and food access programs saves on health care costs down the line.”

A message to our Alliance community

Many members of our community are experiencing deep fear and uncertainty about the future as this new chapter in our nation’s history begins.

The incoming federal administration is moving quickly to undermine our nation’s science-based public health system, hard-won civil rights protections, and life-saving federal safety-net programs, to name just a few areas that directly affect our participants’ well-being.

We can’t predict precisely how things will unfold, but we can promise this: We will stand WITH our community, show up FOR our community, and continue to be A PLACE OF SAFETY, DIGNITY, AND BELONGING for the people we serve.

History is our guide. Alliance was founded in the early 1990s, when stigma and misinformation surrounding HIV and AIDS were the norm.

We created Alliance as a resource and sanctuary for people facing cruelty and discrimination at the most vulnerable time in their lives—sometimes from elected officials, sometimes from the healthcare sector, and sometimes even from their own friends and families.

We persevered through those times and improved hundreds of thousands of lives. We will persist through these times, too.

Alliance will always be a community of belonging and respect for all people. We will continue working diligently to resource our participants for positive change in health, economic opportunity, safety, and self-determination. We will join with our city, state, and community partners—just as we always have—to press for what’s right.

This is our promise as together we face the significant challenges to come: we will live up to our name and pursue our commitment to positive change.

Thank you for standing beside us,
Alliance for Positive Change Leadership

Sharen I. Duke, Executive Director/CEO
Brenda Starks-Ross, Deputy Executive Director/COO
Tamara Green, Deputy Executive Director/CPO
Ramona Cummings, CPO of Harm Reduction
Judy Hederman, SVP of Finance
Brooke Montes, SVP of Business Development & Communications

Alliance for Positive Change Partners with Assembly Member Harvey Epstein to Host Overdose Prevention Training for Older Adults

On Tuesday, November 19, the nonprofit Alliance for Positive Change partnered with New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein’s office to train older adults to reverse drug overdoses by administering Naloxone.

Over 20 older adults and student nurses learned how to identify an overdose and administer Naloxone at the 2024 Aging Safely in Our Community Health Fair at the Stein Older Adult Center, which was developed and staged by student nurses from the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing of The City University of New York.

Alliance Narcan trainer Eliot teaches seniors and nursing students how to recognize and respond to an overdose

Recent data from the CDC shows that overdose deaths have decreased by 14% nationwide in the past year. Experts attribute this progress in part to expanded access to harm reduction tools like Naloxone, which is now available over the counter. Still, older adults remain particularly susceptible to overdose due to factors such as higher rates of chronic pain conditions, social isolation, and stigma.

Opioid overdose reversal medication can be used by non-medical professionals to temporarily reverse the effects of opioids, such as heroin or fentanyl, particularly in situations of overdose. Alliance conducts over 100 overdose prevention trainings annually for the community, corporations, local businesses, and elected officials.

“We are proud to partner with Assembly Member Harvey Epstein’s office to promote the health and safety of older New Yorkers,” said Ramona Cummings, Chief Program Officer at Alliance for Positive Change. “We have seen encouraging data showing that the expansion of harm reduction resources is helping to turn the tide of the overdose crisis. We must persist in our work together to reach communities that continue to be most impacted by overdose.“

“We know a harm reduction model is very effective when it comes to preventing overdose deaths due to opioid use and knowing how to administer Naloxone is a critical tool. We are fortunate to have organizations like Alliance for Positive Change doing the important work of keeping our communities safe through education and connections to services that address the root causes of public health crises. I want to thank them for their leadership and for training members of our community to be prepared in the event of an overdose,” said Assemblymember Harvey Epstein.

Alliance and Assemblymember Epstein previously collaborated for a Narcan training for his district office staff.