Rockman et al Cooperative (Scott Burg, Nisaa Kirtman, Chris Darby) and The Center for Black Health & Equity (Donte’ Prayer)
Advancing Black health equity requires more than strong programs, it requires organizations that can learn, adapt, and grow. Through its partnership with Rockman et al Cooperative (REA), The Center for Black Health & Equity (The Center) is strengthening its programs, infrastructure, and long-term strategy to deepen The Center’s reach nationwide. By moving beyond traditional evaluation, to a process that centers on culturally responsive learning, community accountability, and sustainable systems changes, The Center’s many programs and the communities it serves can have a more responsive and meaningful impact.
The Center’s work includes several diverse, health-based initiatives. From faith-based tobacco prevention campaigns to youth-led creative health activities, from national policy convenings to community food and nutrition programs, The Center operates across multiple fronts in the fight for health equity. What connects these diverse efforts is a commitment to community leadership, inclusive participation, and systems change. Evaluation, in this context, is not simply about compliance, it is about learning what works and strengthening programs over time.
Among these efforts, The Center’s HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness work plays a critical role in addressing persistent disparities in sexual health outcomes within Black communities. Black communities continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS in the U.S., even as prevention and treatment tools have advanced. In 2022, Black/African American people accounted for 38% of new HIV diagnoses while representing about 12% of the U.S. population (CDC, 2024). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also notes that racism, stigma, discrimination, homophobia, poverty, and barriers to high-quality health care continue to drive these inequities. This context underscores why HIV/AIDS prevention cannot rely on information alone. Approaches that build trust, reduce stigma, and work through respected community networks remain essential to reducing disparities.
Addressing HIV/AIDS Disparities Through Community Engagement
Donté Prayer, The Center’s HIV Program Manager, leads the organization’s HIV/AIDS initiatives and oversees programs designed to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and expand access to prevention and sexual health resources. Connected within the broader national public health network, Prayer works closely with partners to ensure that outreach efforts reflect the needs and experiences of the communities they serve.
A defining feature of Prayer’s approach is his culturally responsive engagement with the communities most affected by HIV/AIDS. For example, he often incorporates artistic and performance-based traditions into HIV/AIDS messaging and works closely with Black LGBTQ+ communities, particularly within the House Ballroom community, with cultural fluency and affirmation. By translating national HIV-prevention strategies into accessible, community-centered experiences, his work amplifies Black voices and strengthens collective agency around HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.
Prayer brings extensive experience across the HIV-prevention continuum, including direct service delivery, advocacy and policy engagement, and research leadership. Notably, he served as Chair of the Collaborative Council for the CDC-funded Statusboiz and Statusgurlz study, a $1.1 million initiative focused on culturally grounded HIV prevention for young African Americans. In that role, he helped guide a major research effort that combined methodological rigor with deep community partnership.
This experience has shaped how Prayer approaches evaluation today, by emphasizing qualitative methods, such as storytelling, interviews, and community dialogue, to capture the deeper impact of The Center’s HIV prevention work. For Prayer, meaningful evaluation is not only about tracking deliverables, but about understanding how programs build trust, foster dialogue, and strengthen community capacity to address HIV/AIDS disparities.
Effective HIV/AIDS prevention requires more than disseminating information. It requires building trust, creating safe spaces for honest conversation, and working alongside community leaders who understand the cultural and social dynamics shaping health behaviors. This is not only a values-based approach, it is consistent with evidence.
“Community engagement is everything,” he explains. “When people feel safe and respected, they are far more likely to ask questions, share experiences, and access the resources they need.”
The CDC (2024) highlights interventions for Black communities that work through trusted peer and community networks rather than one-way messaging alone. For example, a CDC-supported intervention d-up! Defend Yourself!, designed for Black men, trains trusted opinion leaders within social networks to shift norms around prevention and condom use. Similarly, Man Men, Many Voices (3MV) addresses stigma, discrimination, homophobia, and social isolation alongside sexual health knowledge and skills. In other words, some of the strongest HIV interventions are built around exactly the elements Prayer and The Center practice: trust, safe discussion, cultural relevance, and leadership within the community.
Evaluation In Action
Recent evaluation findings tied to The Center’s HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives highlight the impact of this culturally grounded approach. The Center’s outreach efforts expanded significantly through engagement with the House Ballroom community, reaching more than 13,000 attendees annually.
Signature events such as Check Your Technique: The I Live Mini Ball intentionally blended Ballroom artistry and activism with HIV-prevention messaging and PrEP awareness. By meeting communities within spaces that celebrate identity, creativity, and collective resilience, these events translate public health strategies into experiences that resonate with the lived realities of Black LGBTQ+ communities.
Additional outreach extended the initiative’s reach through virtual programming and collegiate partnerships, engaging more than 650 college-age students through events hosted with fraternities, sororities, and several HBCUs. Programs such as She Noir further exemplify this approach by creating affirming spaces that honor Black cisgender and transgender women while opening pathways for meaningful dialogue around HIV/AIDS prevention and sexual health. The evaluation also identified key factors shaping program success. While challenges such as fluctuating attendance, environmental constraints, and ongoing public health disruptions occasionally affected programming, strong community partnerships and culturally congruent engagement strategies consistently strengthened participation and trust. Continued investment in staff capacity, data tools, and collaboration with evaluation partners such as REA will further support the program’s ability to expand its reach and impact. Importantly, this approach is supported by a broader body of U.S. HIV intervention research showing that trusted messengers, culturally affirming spaces, and community-led dialogue can improve prevention behaviors and reduce stigma in disproportionately impacted Black communities.
Looking Ahead
As The Center continues to expand its national leadership in Black health equity, evaluation will remain central to its work. What has become clear is that the diversity of The Center’s programs is not a challenge for evaluation, it is a strength. When learning is integrated across initiatives and grounded in community voice, organizations become more resilient and responsive.
Prayer’s work demonstrates that meaningful evaluation is not just about measuring outcomes. It is about listening to communities, understanding lived experiences, and ensuring that programs truly reflect the needs of the people they serve.
