Alliance Advocacy February 2026

Undeterred by arctic temperatures, Alliance staff and Peer Workers made multiple trips to the State Capitol in February to communicate the urgency of protecting essential health services on which tens of thousands of New Yorkers rely across communities. We know first-hand just how vital these services are, and shared our perspective with lawmakers and policymakers.

Our Advocacy Project Manager, Luis Worrell, met with New York State Assembly Member Al Taylor as part oof our visit to Albany with The New York State Harm Reduction Association (NYSHRA) on February 3, rallying for services to protect people who use drugs.

We traveled to Albany with iHealth on February 10 to educate legislatures on Health Homes, an important program which over 180,000 New Yorkers rely on to provide continuity of care between providers. And on February 11, we were back in Albany with the The End AIDS Community Coalition to talk about our FY27 Budget and Policy Priorities. Community and government collaboration has yielded progress in implementing the 2015 Ending the Epidemic (ETE) Blueprint but there is still work to be done! Additional investments and policy changes are needed to end AIDS as an epidemic in NYS. Our budget priorities include providing equal access to HIV housing support across NYS; investments in New York’s Peer workforce and employment opportunities for PLWH; and advancing PrEP equity.