The Love Project

Our Story

The Trip Project, formally known as “The Real Impact Project”, is a social movement created for men of color who have s*x with men (MSM) and trans-women of color to raise awareness around s*xual health while focusing on participants’ overall health outcomes and their social determinants to achieving those outcomes including HIV/STI screening, financial maturity, developing a stronger sense of self-worth and many more. Our mission is to end the stigma associated with prevention and care by increasing knowledge in the communities most affected by the HIV epidemic.

Since 2013, the Trip Project has been charged with “being the change” pursuing the mission by providing free and confidential HIV/STD screenings along with producing cultural/inspiring events aimed to strengthen the community. Through community involvement, unique events and activities, promotion of self-empowerment, and rewarding positive leadership, the Trip Project intends to reduce the impact of HIV within Philadelphia. With our creativity, advocacy, and empowerment methods, we have made great strides towards HIV prevention and connecting clients to essential support and services. We have supported over 500 clients by linking and referring them to emerging needs.

The Trip Project has combined many of the above elements to produce various events such as our Soulful Picnic, Expressions: Celebrating National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and Hard Candy. Hard Candy was our largest event to date reaching over 150 people and resulting in over 50 MSM tested for HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and/or Chlamydia. We have produced and collaborated with amazing talent over the past five years that has involved live music, performance arts, activism, poetry/spoken word, and visual arts. Beyond that, we have advocated on behalf of the LGBT community of color by continuing to fight for equality, visibility, and representation.

Since bringing on a new Trip Coordinator in August of 2018, we have shifted gears but not strayed away from Trip’s initial purpose of increasing the feeling of community among MSM and trans-women of color. On October 16th, 2019, The Trip Project opened its new drop-in, The Freedom Space. The Freedom Space is Trip’s weekly community drop-in dedicated to providing a safe space for people to hang out, obtain information about organizations in the community and their services, access referrals and to pick up health and wellness resources and materials. The space is for gay, bis*xual, and s*xually fluid men of color over of all ages.

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