A government grant is funding a program in Dallas County to provide “harm reduction” services specifically to gay and transgender black people.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) has spent $750,000 on a program titled “Substance Use Treatment and Harm Reduction Services for MSM [men who have sex with men] and Transgender Populations in Dallas” that began in 2022 and was renewed last year.
The grant is being disbursed to Abounding Prosperity Incorporated (AP Inc.), located in Dallas County.
It’s allocated to “increase AP, Inc.’s capacity to provide SUD (substance use disorder) treatment and recovery support for [men who have sex with men] and transgender persons of color in Dallas,” per the award abstract.
AP Inc. “addresses health, social, and economic disparities among Black Americans with a particular emphasis on gay & bisexual men, cisgender women, transgender women, and their families,” per its webpage.
The funds are intended to provide services such as “education, screening, care coordination, risk reduction interventions, testing, and counseling for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases,” according to the grant description.
AP Inc.’s specific on-site services also include “transportation services, case management, harm reduction counseling and education, [and] a Safe Space Drop-in-Center.”
As part of its program, AP Inc. plans to “coordinate with other organizations and municipal agencies to ensure coordination of care and increase access to services.”
The grant’s abstract does not specify which agencies and groups are to be part of this coordinated effort.
The Biden administration launched the nation’s first federal “harm reduction” program, which can include funding for initiatives such as “smoking kits.” Despite the White House’s insistence that these kits would not include crack pipes, several grant recipients in the program were revealed to distribute these pieces of drug paraphernalia, as previously reported by The Dallas Express, including one organization in El Paso, Texas.
Neither Abounding Prosperity Incorporated nor the NIH responded to questions regarding what type of harm-reduction supplies would be included in the program funded by the grant.