“Fernando Aragon is a senior at Middlebury College. He is a Political Science and French major. This summer, with the generous funding of the Mahoney Family, he interned with Latino Commission on HIV/AIDS in New York City.”

During my first week at the Latino Commission on AIDS, I was introduced to the organization’s prevention programs by my supervisor and deputy director Jennifer Tang. I received a quick overview of the organization and the importance of conducting community-based prevention efforts. I was given a wide array of literature on the subject from scholarly articles to some of the projects’ manuscripts and was asked to familiarize myself with the subject. I was specifically assigned to the Mpowerment Project; a community based intervention designed to introduce safe sex norms and practices in HIV/vulnerable communities—especially among MSM, men-who-have-sex-with-men.

Rather than relying solely on distributing information about HIV transmission and methods of protection, this program focused on the importance of peer influence (and pressure) in changing individual behavior. Young community leaders were informed about HIV prevalence in their specific communities and trained to spread the message about the need to uphold safe sexual practices. Through the community’s social networks, the HIV prevention message was widely disseminated and capable of reaching groups of young MSM who were difficult to identify—given their reluctance to identify themselves as homosexuals and to seek information or HIV prevention services.

I was responsible of conducting personal interviews with the program’s coordinators and volunteers and writing a literature review on community based behavioral intervention. This provided me with the necessary background to draft the project’s manuscript which was sent to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for evaluation and revision purposes.

My initial impressions were positive. The Commission seemed to be a referential NGO in terms of HIV research and behavioral intervention in Latino MSM communities. Not only did the Commission coordinate and organize outreach events, conference panels and seminars, but it also provided basic health services to vulnerable populations. Located in its headquarters, the Commission also provided a safe venue for non-normative sexualities to socialize, shared their challenges and found appropriate support. From HIV testing to counseling and from support groups to large HIV prevention activities, the Commission focused not only on the psychosocial challenges to HIV prevention but also on providing relief, and adopting a sensitive position in regards to the individual realities of the epidemic.

I was able to get the big picture in relation to the HIV epidemic and a better understanding of the complexities and different layers of the problem. I understood the interactions between politics and individual decisions much better. The level of individual education was an important determinant of HIV infections, and as such I believe it was the state’s responsibility to educate individuals so that they would have the long-term perspective necessary to make the right decisions in regards to safe sex.

This internship helped me realize that although working for nonprofit organizations was a very rewarding experience, I consider working for one at the outset of my professional life. NGOs are a great starting point for young professionals since they help people develop the skills necessary to improve their professional prospects. However, as I said before, I believe NGOs are important as a necessary tool to help correct some of the injustices they fight against, but they are unlikely to provide long-lasting solutions to the causes they advocate for.