Meeting of the
4 HIV HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLANNING COUNCIL
5 OF NEW YORK
6
7 Thursday, March 26, 2026
8 3:05-5:10pm
9 Cicatelli Associates, 505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY
10 And by Zoom Videoconference
11
12 DRAFT MINUTES
13
14 Members Present: D. Klotz (Governmental Co-chair), D. Martin (Community Co-chair), B. Fields (Finance Officer),
15 G. Angelopoulos, R. Babakhanian, V. Bell, A. Betancourt, R. Brown, M. Caponi, P. Carr, L. Cyrus, J. Dudley, J.
16 Edwards, R. Ford, L. Francis, C. Graham, S. Hemraj, R. Henderson, C. Gomez, E. Kaywin, K. Laveille, J. Louis, DDS,
17 N. Martin, M. Maia Soares, B. Montes, J, Natt, C. Nuñez, J. Palmer, G. Plummer (ex-officio), J. Robles, M. Rodriguez,
18 L. Sabashvili, S. Safo, MD, J. Sanchez, J. Schoepp, M. Sedlacek, PhD, D. Tider, A. Tomlin, G. Ty, L. Worrell
19
20 Members Absent: M. Bacon, M. Baney, J. Benitez, G. Bruckno, V. Decamps, M. Gilborn, J. Goldenbridge, L. F.
21 Molano, MD, S. Stallings
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23 Staff Present: DOHMH: D. Saab, M. Navejas, A. Omeyoma, D. Bickram, S. Spiegler, J. Acosta, S. Kramer, R. James,
24 F. Abdelqader, A. Guzman, P. Padgen, K. Lamarche; Public Health Solutions: A. Shahi; NYS DOH AIDS Institute:
25 Karen Hagos; CHAIN: A. Aidala
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30 Mr. Martin and Mr. Klotz opened the meeting followed by introductions and a roll call and a moment of
31 silence. The minutes of the February 26, 2026 meeting were approved with no changes.
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35 Dr. Sedlacek promoted a Ryan White SPNS demonstration project at Montefiore seeing newly diagnosed or
36 out of care PWH with mental health issues using incentives to get them to undetectable.
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38 Mr. Leveille announced that the AIDS Institute is still seeking “PrEP Awareness” ambassadors.
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40 Mr. Maia stressed the importance of having better data on HIV among immigrants.
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42 Colby H. (ACT-UP) reported on the efforts to get ADAP to include naltrexone in their formulary.
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46 Mr. Spiegler reported on National Women and Girls and National Native HIV Awareness Days. Also,
47 AIDS United is accepting applications for three upcoming trainings in its HRSA HAB-supported Cultivate
48 Training of Trainers program, which is designed for people with HIV (PWH) who want to expand leadership
49 and engagement in health care planning and programs.
50
1 On March 4th, Public Health Solutions (PHS), on behalf of DOHMH released the Concept Paper for three
2 Ryan White Part A (RWPA) service categories: Food and Meals Services, Medical Nutrition Therapy, and
3 Legal Services. The paper outlines the intent of the forthcoming Request for Proposals (RFP) for services
4 starting March 1, 2027. On February 17th, the NY EMA Quality Management (QM) Program held a full-day,
5 in-person quality improvement sharing session. Eight subrecipient agencies presented on their QI projects.
6 The QM Unit also began implementing events for subrecipients and consumers to engage with one another
7 and connect to learn more about program services in the EMA.
8
9 On March 2, 2026, BHHS submitted a comment in response to HRSA’s request for public comment on the
10 burden estimate associated with preparing and submitting RWPA program expenditures reports. The Bureau
11 also released its HIV Continuum Dashboard webpage. BHHS also announced the 20 community-based
12 organizations (CBOs) selected to receive funding through the City’s TGNCNB Empowerment Fund, a $20M
13 investment. Other DOHMH news includes a health advisory on mpox clade I and the release of the 2024 STI
14 surveillance report.
15
16 Agenda Item #4: 2027-31 NY State Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan (IP)
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18 Ms. Hagos and Mr. Laveille presented on the new IP, CDC and HRSA requirement that aligns with State and
19 federal ending the epidemic goals. The IP guides HIV prevention, care, and treatment efforts; aligns
20 prevention and care into one coordinated strategy; establishes shared goals, priorities, and measurable
21 outcomes; focuses resources on populations and communities most impacted; and strengthens coordination
22 across programs, providers, and local planning bodies. The IP includes needs assessments and community
23 input, a resource inventory, an epidemiological snapshot, goals and strategies, a framework for
24 implementation and monitoring, and letters of concurrence.
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26 The plan has four pillars: Diagnose, Treat, Prevent and Respond. A description of the goals and strategies
27 under each was provided. For example, under Diagnose, one goal is to increase the percentage of PWH who
28 know their serostatus to at least 98%. Under Treat, one goal is to increase the percentage of PWH who
29 receive HIV medical care with suppressed viral load to 95%.
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31 Ms. Hagos and Mr. Laveille led a discussion on the strategies to achieve the IP goals, asking which remain
32 most relevant, which may be less impactful, and what other strategies should be added. Topics brought up in
33 the ensuing discussion included:
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35 • Using the term “at-risk”, which can be stigmatizing and leave out certain populations.
36 • Measuring success of the strategies, which will require multiple platforms to collect and analyze
37 data, get community input, and share with partners.
38 • Address immigrants being disconnected from care due to fear of enforcement.
39 • Lack of access on weekends to services beyond emergency care.
40 • Using social media to target young people, including in real time on apps that gay men use to
41 connect for chem sex.
42 • The importance of peer workers, particularly in populations of focus (e.g., with disparities in use of
43 PrEP, long acting injectables, etc.)
44 • Address the needs of the HIV workforce, particularly enhancing knowledge of HIV care among
45 doctors who are not infectious disease specialists.
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47 Next steps will be to update strategies through additional feedback (including through a survey open until
48 April 1), finalizing a draft for planning bodies to review, presenting the final draft to the Council in May for
49 a concurrence vote, and submitting the plan to HRSA and the CDC before the June 30th deadline.
1 Agenda Item #5: Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) 063 Implementation Update
2
3 Ms. James presented on the implantation of the DOHMH grant under the federal EHE program, which aligns
4 with the EHE plan (same pillars as the IP) and is funded in Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens (as
5 determined by federal guidelines). DOHMH was awarded a second 5-year grant in 2025. Activities under the
6 grant’s workplan (presented previously to the Council) include: enhance RWPA activities; expand
7 implementation of evidence-informed strategies and interventions and emerging practices; developing data
8 infrastructure and systems linkages; and building networks and relationships with HIV community
9 stakeholders. Goals and objectives for each activity were described. For example, under activity one, the goal
10 is to increase capacity among RWPA Care Coordination Programs tailored to the needs of PWH over age 50
11 by supporting the provision of clinical and psychosocial assessments. Another key goal is to increase the
12 number of Client Advisory Boards at RWPA agencies to support community engagement.
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14 Agenda Item #6: GY 2024 Ryan White Part A Enrollment Report
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16 Mr. Abdelqader presented data from the 2024 RWPA enrollment report, which summarizes enrollment
17 information for all RWPA programs and includes client demographics and transmission category by
18 enrollment status; populations of focus by enrollment status; client demographics and transmission category
19 by enrollment status. The report supports program management and Planning Council decision-making with
20 annual aggregate reporting on RWPA enrollment data. Data includes: newly enrolled clients and active (i.e.,
21 received at least one service) clients reported through eSHARE, broken down by demographics, geography,
22 service category and population of focus. Across the EMA, in 2024 there were 9384 active clients and 2235
23 newly enrolled clients. Breakdowns were given by age (a large majority were between ages 30-64), gender
24 identity (64% were cisgender men), race/ethnicity (90% Black and Hispanic), and other categories. There
25 was a breakdown by service category: the highest proportions of active clients were served by Care
26 Coordination and Food and Nutrition Services (37% and 31%, respectively).
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28 Agenda Item #7: Public Comment, Part II
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30 Mr. Natt encouraged attendance at this weekend’s No Kings rallies. Mr. Palmer added that there will be
31 several rallies at different locations in the Tri-County region.
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33 Mr. Guzman reported that the NYC Council’s budget process is underway and encouraged people to contact
34 their Council members regarding the Health Department’s budget priorities. He also encouraged Planning
35 Council members to participate in the PC/HPG Joint Policy Committee.
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37 There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
