Community Building.

Community Action.

Check back next week for our new website!

Find us anywhere online at www.linktree.com/pozalliance.

Positive Alliance is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the well-being of HIV+ individuals and to connecting people with HIV and allies with one another and with opportunities to create positive change. These efforts are currently focused on New York City and the Tri-State area.

Connect with a Supportive Community

Community Building

Our community building efforts take several different forms, currently focused on virtual and in-person events designed to connect individuals with one another and with other organizations or groups.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY BUILDING EVENTS

LIVE NOW: Our community survey – find it here! Tell us about yourself, what you need, and what activities you’d like to see us provide. Your answers are confidential and we will never share your info with a third party. The results will be published later this year.

Thursday, September 19, 7:00-9:00 PM – Game Night. Our venue is set! We’ll be in a private home near W. 49th St./9th Ave. in Manhattan. Join us for an evening of fun and reconnection as we get the gang back together in the home where Positive Alliance first started! Free, donation optional. Sign up here. RSVP required for exact address.

Thursday, September 26, 6:00-9:00 PM – September Happy Hour! 2-for-1 happy hour mocktails and cocktails, light refreshments, 50/50 raffle, music by DJ Cameron Cole and a few numbers by drag artiste extraordinaire Kailee Rose! INDUSTRY BAR, 355 W. 52nd St., between 8th/9th Ave.

Free to attend, but there is the option to make a donation when signing up here, to help us cover the cost of refreshments and supplies at this and future events.

We’re glad to see those of you who have already rejoined, and look forward to seeing more of you as we keep going!

Our community building events are made possible in part thanks to the support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

OCTOBER

OCTOBER 17 – Game night, sign-up opens 9/20 after September game night!

OCTOBER 24 – Monthly happy hour, at Industry. RSVPs open 9/27 after September’s event.

Game nights are the third Thursday of each month, and happy hour is the fourth Thursday of each month, unless otherwise noted.

A Safe Space

Our events and online communities provide a safe space for sharing, learning, and growing together.

Connection

We seek to create a diverse menu of events to provide opportunities for HIV+ individuals and those affected by HIV (partners, friends, etc.) to connect with one another.

Learning Together

The world has come a long way since the worst days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Until there is a vaccine or cure, there's still more to learn for both patients and providers. Gatherings and forums like ours give us a space to share what we know, and learn from others.

Our Mission

Community Action: Bringing People Together with Purpose

We’re dedicated to bringing people together to:

- Build personal connections.
- Combat isolation and the negative health outcomes it can cause.
- Work together towards some common goals.

What are some of those common goals?

Combat HIV Stigma and Criminalization

With PrEP and better HIV education, we've come a long way towards ending the stigma surrounding an HIV+ diagnosis. But there's still more work to do. Thirty-four US states still have laws that criminalize HIV or other STIs in one way or another.

CDC Info on Criminalization

Educate that U=U

It is now widely known that taking HIV medicine as prescribed and maintaining an undetectable viral load makes it nearly impossible to transmit HIV. Undetectable=Untransmittable.

U=U

Promote the Missions of Larger Service Organizations

There are plenty of organizations out there already doing great work. We want to make it easier for members of the community to find the resources they need, when they need them, from the places that already offer them.

Identify Deficiencies in the Safety Net

Many HIV+ New Yorkers rely on a safety net to afford rent, healthcare, and other needs. This safety net is not always sufficient to live a comfortable or fulfilling life, and can trap people in poverty with lots of hurdles to returning to work if they want to. We'd like to be a part of the conversation, with other organizations, to change that reality.

Have Questions?

We've got answers!

If your question isn’t answered here, drop us a note to contact@pozalliance.org. We’re eager to hear from you!

Who is Positive Alliance for?

Positive Alliance is currently positioned as a safe and useful space for HIV+ male-identified individuals who are attracted to other men, and also for allies. We think of an ally as anyone who shares our commitment to working towards the best possible quality of life for people living with HIV.

Allyship can take the form of combating HIV stigma, promoting wellness and inclusivity, donating money or other resources, or just being that good friend who comes along for moral support and a fun time!

If you are an organization specializing in the support of HIV+ communities other than gay/queer/bi male-identified individuals, we're looking to partner with you! Reach out at contact@pozalliance.org.

How can I join Positive Alliance?

We aren't a member organization, so you can join by just getting involved! Come to any of our events, or connect with us via the social media links at the bottom of the page. You can also sign up for our mailing list and newsletter here.

Are there any membership fees?

No, there are absolutely no fees to join Positive Alliance. We believe in working hard to make our community, our events, and our resources accessible to everyone.

What types of events do you host?

We're still in the process of rebuilding our in-person event programming after the Covid-19 hiatus, but have launched a monthly game night and a monthly happy hour: info for those are near the top of the page.

Later this year, we'll work to bring back the popular Strength in Numbers holiday party, usually held the third Saturday in December.

We're also working to put together a series of virtual forums to discuss issues important to the community.

In the past, we've hosted weekly parties at major gay-friendly venues, summer picnics, bowling nights, "Sea Tea" cruises, and more.

If you'd like to weigh in on what you'd like us to prioritize, fill out our survey here. Your privacy is important to us, and your answers are anonymous.

How can I donate to Positive Alliance?

Your generous support is always appreciated! Click here to make a contribution. Your donation will help us continue our work and host welcoming, impactful events.

How will my donations be used?

We are dedicated to the wise and prudent use of the resources donated for us to use. In the long term, we hope to tackle much larger initiatives, but in the short and medium term, here are some of the expected expenses:

To help us secure venues for events by placing a deposit, which some venues prefer nowadays.
To help us buy food or refreshments for events.
To transport food, supplies, and decorations to venues, if too much to carry on public transit.
To help us cover the cost of attendance at certain types of future events, for those who cannot afford to do so on their own.
To help us afford modest, web-based advertising to promote our events to people who aren’t already on our mailing list or part of our social media communities.
To provide reasonable compensation or at least thank you gestures for people who provide services for us (performers, web construction, promotional services, etc.).

Do you offer any resources for HIV+ individuals?

We don't ourselves offer direct access to healthcare or similar resources. However, check back soon for an exhaustive list of links on a dedicated page. We'll do our best to consolidate a list of resources folks in our community might need: testing, PrEP, healthcare access, mental wellness support options, addiction and recovery resources, and connections to organizations in other cities trying to do what we do here!

How can I stay up to date on upcoming events and activities?

Stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter, following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or regularly checking here on our website for the latest updates and event announcements.

Can I volunteer with Positive Alliance?

Absolutely! We are always looking for passionate individuals to join our team. Email us if you'd like to pitch in and get involved: you might be just the person we need!

What's Positive Alliance's track record?

HISTORY

Positive Alliance began life in a Hell’s Kitchen living room in 2009. About a dozen HIV+ gay men started a monthly party to connect with one another and build social bonds. HIV was no longer a death sentence, and a new generation of treatments meant that the infection was, for most people, a manageable, chronic condition to keep under control. However, undercurrents and overtones of HIV stigma still flowed freely through the gay community, PrEP wasn’t an option yet, and there were still many more hurdles to dating and intimacy than there are today.

In 2010, Jacob Pring’s POZ party, which had already started successful runs in both Washington, DC and Philadelphia, started at Vlada Von Shats’s Vlada Bar in Hell’s Kitchen. Vlada provided a welcoming home, and very quickly the private living room group and Jacob’s POZ group merged into what would eventually become Positive Alliance, and then Impac+, and now Positive Alliance again!

Between 2010 and 2015, the group grew from 13 guys, to several hundred regular, active members. Michael H. and Jeanathan L. assumed leadership in 2015 and further grew the organization.

Positive Alliance NYC is proud of our contributions to this community: countless friendships exist because of our work. Several marriages came out of our events. Our community has come together to help people access physical and mental healthcare, find stable or safer housing, buy clothing when they’ve lost everything, and many more small, quiet acts of love and support that would fall through the cracks of larger organizations. Perhaps one of the most meaningful things we have been is an important part of diminishing the stigma surrounding HIV within the community as a whole.

OUR PRESENT

Like many organizations, we were severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need for distancing and isolation. Programming has been slow to recover, partly because of surges in new strains of Covid-19, and a reasonable concern for health and safety; and partly due to the new economic realties faced by would-be venues. However, we have dusted ourselves off and gotten back on our feet. We are back to regular programming, and poised for a new chapter of growth!

OUR FUTURE

We are dedicated to fully reconstituting our programming in whatever form that looks like to meet the current needs of the community we serve and are a part of, and we look forward to many exciting developments over the next six to 12 months, including new initiatives to more directly partner with other groups tackling the issues impacting quality of life for those living with HIV. Stay tuned!