# Our Family, Our Voices: An Efficacy Trial Of An Intervention Utilizing Family-Based Assets To Optimize HIV Prevention And Care Outcomes For Black Sexual and Gender Minorities In House Ball Communities

> **NIH MD R01** · SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER · 2026 · $1,250,162

## Abstract

Originating within urban Black and Latinx communities, the House Ball Community (HBC) is a gender- and
sexuality expansive population facing overlapping hardships such as stigma and family rejection that contribute
to their overrepresentation in the HIV epidemic. The HBC population, estimated at 8,000 nationwide, is
concentrated in New York City (NYC) with growth in the US South and includes a large proportion of Black
Gender and Sexual Minority (BGSM) individuals, primarily Black and Latinx gay men who have sex with men
(MSM) and transwomen and men. BGSM remain deeply impacted by the US HIV epidemic, with low uptake of
pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and limited HIV care engagement due to stigma and systemic barriers,
particularly in the US South. Despite the HBC’s longstanding role as a site for advocacy and normative change
within the broader BGSM community, the HBC has received minimal targeted HIV treatment/prevention efforts
and remains severely understudied. Our Family, Our Voices (OFOV) addresses these gaps through a
community-driven, HIV status-neutral, gender-expansive, group-level intervention developed in collaboration
with the HBC. Leveraging the HBC’s hierarchical family structure (e.g., house mother, house father), OFOV’s
intervention format includes a family-based retreat for HBC members to empower them to advocate for their own
health, cultivate leadership skills, and improve clinical outcomes. OFOV builds on core elements of Many Men,
Many Voices (3MV), the only CDC “best evidence” intervention for Black gay MSM that has demonstrated
increased HIV testing rates. Previously adapted in NYC (R34 MH124082), OFOV has shown feasibility, but
further research in a powered study is needed to evaluate efficacy and scalability across 3 areas, including NYC:
Aim 1 (pre-intervention phase): Tailor OFOV materials to local contexts through collaborations with indigenous
Black gay CBOs in Atlanta and Dallas. Aim 1 (intervention phase): Conduct a cluster-randomized

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11257148
- **Project number:** 1R01MD021145-01
- **Recipient organization:** SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Marlon Murtha Bailey; Jeffrey M Birnbaum; SABINA  HIRSHFIELD
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** MD
- **Fiscal year:** 2026
- **Award amount:** $1,250,162
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2026-05-06T00:00:00 → 2030-11-30T00:00:00

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11257148

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11257148, Our Family, Our Voices: An Efficacy Trial Of An Intervention Utilizing Family-Based Assets To Optimize HIV Prevention And Care Outcomes For Black Sexual and Gender Minorities In House Ball Communities (1R01MD021145-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-07-07 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11257148. Licensed CC0.

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