Two Florida Keys nonprofits are joining forces to expand sexual health resources in Key West.
A.H. Monroe is a nonprofit that’s worked to provide health and housing resources for Florida Keys residents for more than three decades. The organization began with the mission to combat the AIDS crisis. Queer Keys is a new nonprofit in Key West that opened the Florida Keys’ only LGBTQ+ resource center in October.
The two organizations recently created a formal partnership, hoping to expand their reach in the Lower Keys. The partnership aims to expand HIV prevention measures and community support for LGBTQ+ residents.
“It's in its infancy, but we've started and we've got big plans for 2025,” said Scott Pridgen, the Executive Director of A.H. Monroe.
READ MORE: 'One human family': Group set to open the Florida Keys’ only LGBTQ+ community center
The organizations have already launched the first part of their efforts by redesigning A.H Monroe’s condom distribution program. “We distribute 10,000 condoms a month throughout the community,” said Pridgen.
With Queer Keys’ help, A.H. Monroe has the staffing to be able to reach several businesses and community organizations where the condoms can be given out for free.
Alongside the contraception hand-outs, A.H. Monroe and Queer Keys are adding HIV prevention and sexual health education into Queer Keys’ programming for youth and the transgender community. In their youth program, they’ll be building out safe sex workshops, including PrEP education that will be guided by the Monroe County Health Department.
PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication that reduces your risk of getting HIV, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
“I do hope that by kind of taking education outside of the walls of the school and making it more of a community thing that we're able to fill in the gaps,” said Chris McNulty, the co-founder and executive director of Queer Keys.
Another major goal of the partnership is to better support an often underserved part of the LGBTQ community: senior citizens. The two groups will be conducting a community needs survey next month to gather input from the general public about what kind of programming they’d like to see.
“Isolation is a big issue with LGBT older adults for a number of reasons,” McNulty said. “So we really want to cater and build the program based on the actual needs that exist and meet people where they're at.”
