The YES Center at George Washington University provides technical assistance (TA), training, guidance, and evaluative services to eight demonstration sites targeting outreach, care, and prevention to young men of color who have sex with men (YCMSMs). The YES Center’s goals are to:

• enhance the sites’ program development through centralized TA and training;
• facilitate inter-site communication through biannual meetings, annual site visits, conference calls, and a dedicated website;
• design, analyze, and disseminate evaluation findings

• provide ongoing technical support to the sites as they design, interpret, and disseminate the findings of their own evaluations; and
• disseminate the materials generated by the sites and the Center through the Center’s website and published materials.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers, YCMSM care providers and program managers, information technology (IT) experts, and others address the YES Center’s multifaceted requirements. Researchers from the GWU SPHHS Departments of Health Policy and Biostatistics-Epidemiology collaborate with faculty of the University of California at San Francisco in Center evaluation activities. The researchers are trained in sociology, epidemiology, and health services research and have successfully evaluated an array of YCMSM and other HIV programs.

Through the integration of quantitative and qualitative techniques, program- and client-level characteristics that act as barriers to or facilitators of entry and retention in care are identified by YES Center activities. Core research questions, based on these activities, will be defined over time by the YES Center team and demonstration sites, variables of interest will be operationalized, and data collection will help lead to evaluation of the projects. YES Center activities will allow a comprehensive evaluation of the services delivered, barriers and facilitators of service delivery, and client and site characteristics associated with outcomes of interest.

More About the GWU YES Center