# Strengthening community responses to economic vulnerability and HIV inequities

> **NIH NIH R34** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2022 · $277,832

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
In the United States, transgender women of color (`trans women of color') experience cyclical, interlocking
systems of structural and institutional oppression rooted in racism and transphobia, which fuel economic
vulnerability. Together, cycles of intersecting racism, transphobia, and economic vulnerability create conditions
that give rise to extreme HIV inequities among trans women of color. Microeconomic interventions – designed
to improve financial standing by increasing income generation and access to financial resources through
entrepreneurship, cash transfers, and training — have the potential to address structural factors underlying HIV
risk. Over the past few years, several trans-led organizations, including the Trans Sistas of Color Project, have
integrated microeconomic strategies, specifically emergency assistance (i.e., unconditional cash grants) into
their programming. Building on our formative work in Detroit, this project seeks to adapt and examine the
acceptability and feasibility of an enhanced microeconomic intervention designed to address HIV prevention
and care continua outcomes. The enhanced microeconomic intervention builds on our community partner's
existing microeconomic interventions, which includes: (1) an emergency assistance; and (2) peer and legal
support to obtain legal gender affirmation (i.e., legal name and gender markers on identification documents).
The existing intervention will be enhanced to include (1) weekly educational sessions on economic
empowerment (i.e., job acquisition, income generation through micro-business, and financial literacy) and HIV
prevention and care; (2) employment-focused mentoring; (3) weekly social media posts of job openings in
Detroit; and (4) an unconditional grant ($1,200) for use towards acquiring self-led or formal employment. Our
community advisory board composed of trans women of color will provide ongoing consultation. The proposed
research plan is directly in line with the prioritization of sexual and gender minority communities for health
disparities research and the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, as well as NIH priority areas for
reducing HIV incidence. Findings will provide the necessary groundwork to examine intervention efficacy and
implementation processes in a future, large-scale trial.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10476669
- **Project number:** 1R34MH130207-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristi E Gamarel
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $277,832
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-20 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10476669

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10476669, Strengthening community responses to economic vulnerability and HIV inequities (1R34MH130207-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10476669. Licensed CC0.

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