Heidi L. Behforouz, MD, Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities, has been awarded $1 million from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services to support the Fuerza Latina project for the next three years. Behforouz is the medical director of the Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) Project that is devoted to improving the access to quality medical services for people with HIV, AIDS and other STD’s. The group also provides access for people at high-risk of HIV in the Roxbury area of Boston through community health workers, alliances with various health and social service providing organizations. Fuerza Latina is a social recovery, leadership development and community-organizing program, designed for Latino men with a history of alcohol and drug abuse in inner city Boston. Through the program, Behforouz will work to create leaders from within affected populations and encourage them to mobilize the community against further spread of HIV and drug-related harm. By the end of the three-year cycle, the program’s model will be reproduced in African-American and MSM communities, and among women and youth.