Colorado State University’s National Center for Community Readiness Awarded $1.9 Million for HIV Prevention Program

Colorado State University’s Department of Ethnic Studies’ National Center for Community Readiness was recently awarded a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide HIV testing and prevention methods to underserved communities throughout the United States.

The $1.9 million grant begins on Sept. 30 and will provide funding for the program for the next four and a half years. Pamela Jumper-Thurman, CSU researcher and director of the Center for Community Readiness, is the principal investigator of the grant.

CSU’s Ethnic Studies Department was one of 30 organizations funded in this $110 million cooperative agreement initiative.

The CDC has been awarding grant funds to organizations to implement HIV programs since 1988. This particular funding project focuses on assisting individuals, organizations and communities in their effectiveness of delivering evidence-based HIV prevention and intervention.

The Department of Ethnic Studies has a long history of working with minority communities to initiate HIV/AIDS prevention programs and encourage HIV testing throughout the country.

Thurman is an enrolled member of the Western Cherokee tribe and is a senior research scientist. She brings 25 years of experience in research on such topics as cultural competence, mental health, substance abuse, violence and victimization, rural women’s concerns, HIV/AIDS prevention, solvent abuse and partner violence. She also has an additional 15 years of experience in program evaluation and direct treatment and prevention services. She works with a team that includes Irene Vernon, Barbara Plested, Martha Burnside, Andrea Israel, Norberto Valdez, Maricela DeMirjyn and Richard Breaux.

-30-