Metro TeenAIDS

MTA helps youth and families impacted by HIV/AIDS.  MTA provides a range of services to HIV positive youth, youth at risk for HIV and children with HIV-infected parents.

Why do we exist?

Metro TeenAIDS is the leading organization in the fight against HIV/AIDS among youth in the Washington, DC area. Tragically, Washington DC  has the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country – and that includes adolescents. It is believed that there is one HIV-positive young person in every classroom in DC.

Nationwide, about half of new HIV infections occur in youth under age 25—but as many as one-third don’t know they have the disease. The situation in DC is even worse: according to the World Health Organization, HIV infection in DC is comparable to rates in South-East Asia, the Caribbean and parts of Africa. Experts think that between 1,000 and 1,500 young people in our area are infected with HIV – but only 100 are receiving appropriate medical care.

Metro TeenAIDS provides a wide range of innovative and effective programs to help prevent HIV and provide services to teens whose lives are affected by the disease. Our peer educators provide HIV education in both the DC Public Schools and throughout the community; we also offer safe and confidential HIV tests and counseling to area youth. For those who test positive, we help make connections with medical and social services at Children’s National Medical Center and other partners so the youth can stay healthy longer. In addition to these services, we help train young people to be effective leaders, though programs such as our Young Women of Color Leadership Council.

When you make an investment in Metro TeenAIDS you invest in an organization that is nationally recognized for its leadership and programming. This year alone, Metro TeenAIDS has been honored with three prestigious awards for our work.

• MTA received a 2006 Red Ribbon Leadership Award, sponsored by the National HIV/AIDS Partnership (NHAP);

• Leadership Greater Washington chose MTA as one of their Youth Leadership Awards; and

• The Center for Nonprofit Advancement selected our Executive Director, Adam Tenner, as one of three recipients of the EXCEL award for outstanding non-profit leadership.

What have you accomplished?

Metro TeenAIDS reaches teens with life-saving messages about HIV prevention, as well as essential medical services for teens with HIV/AIDS. Over the years, we have provided HIV prevention education to well over 150,000 area youth. Each year, we work hard to identify teens with HIV and make sure we get them into care, so they can live longer.

MTA’s successes are reflected in the real changes we see in the youth we serve. One of our staff members was on the path to gang membership and dropping out; thanks to her connections with MTA, she’s working on her GED and making positive plans for the future. Another one of the youth in our programs often says, “If it weren’t for Metro TeenAIDS, I’d be out finding trouble or trouble would be finding me.” Our services mean the difference between life and death for so many youth.  Whether we meet them at schools, on the streets, or in the emergency room our work changes lives.

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