Alfredo Flores

AMP GRANT INNOVATOR

Piri Pi (coming soon)

Alfredo (he, him, his) is a proud Mexican American living in the Little Village section of Chicago, where he has found ways to turn his passion into his job. After starting as a volunteer at a local AIDS service organization, he worked his way up to program manager,
where he has been doing HIV prevention work with immigrant and undocumented populations for five years now.

HIV in the Latinx community can be incredibly stigmatized, just as identifying as LGBTQ can be, “but our Latinx communities haven’t had a lot of opportunities to learn about LGBTQ communities or HIV prevention,” says Alfredo. So, Alfredo found a way to initiate these conversations using his second passion, video editing. With support from Project L.I.Y.T, Piri Pi was founded: A YouTube channel that engages the Chicago Latinx community in conversations about HIV, supplemented by an open virtual conversation series on HIV-related topics. Each conversation is designed to educate monolingual Spanish speakers, undocumented Latinx in Chicago, brothers, sisters, parents and peers.

But it’s more than just family and peers. Alfredo plans to engage school principals, priests and other community leaders. “I really wanted to invite these leaders to break the stigma and talk about sexual health,” he says. “Let’s have them tell their following how to use a condom, so that their following can actually have an educational moment with someone they trust.”

Time and funding were Alfredo’s greatest barriers to launching Piri Pi. Project L.I.Y.T allowed him to not only fund the project, but to learn new ways to structure a program and experiment with new ideas. Being a L.I.Y.T Scholar has also helped Alfredo discover new ways of reaching and educating community. “I find a lot of hesitation—like, ‘I’ve never really talked about this topic before.’”

Doors that were previously closed against his efforts to provide community HIV testing have since opened—thanks to a budding relationship Alfredo has formed with a local priest. “It’s been like a domino effect and they’re referring us to other churches. It’s been so weird! I’ve been so used to having our services rejected in the past,” says Alfredo. “The L.I.Y.T project started these conversations.”

Alfredo hopes to launch all of the final videos and interviews in 2021, and to begin selling merchandise to sustain the
project—featuring local Latinx designers, of course. He imagines that one day, Piri Pi could evolve to become an in-person workshop series for companies, organizations, parishes and more, to bring more support to the HIV and LGBTQ movements.

This Amp Grantee Innovator Profile was developed as part of the Positive Action for Youth (PAFY) initiative and the Amp Grant initiative. PAFY advances ViiV Healthcare’s commitment to supporting a range of community-driven activities that amplify the voices of young leaders and activate innovative solutions to combat HIV, with the ultimate goal of empowering youth with the tools, networks and resources they need to seek and stay engaged in care. Learn more about ViiV programs and initiatives at www.viivhealthcare.com/en-us, and on Twitter at @ViiVUS

Illustrations provided by Farah Jeune, artist and creator/producer/host of Farenheight TV.