Creating partnerships for HIV prevention among YMSM: the Connect Protect® Project and House and Ball Community in Philadelphia.

<p>Community participation in prevention research has emerged as an important resource for identifying and addressing HIV risk factors and populations that may be more susceptible to these risks. This article focuses on the coalition at the Philadelphia site of Connect to Protect®: Partnerships for Youth Prevention Interventions (C2P), and the partnerships developed to work with an understudied subgroup of young men who have sex with men (YMSM), the House and Ball Community (HBC). The authors describe the coalition's process of identifying HIV risk factors, developing objectives and prevention activities such as increased access to HIV counseling and testing, and building partnerships with the HBC community. Local HIV testing data from C2P affiliated events, additional outcomes, and future directions for the coalition to continue these efforts are presented.</p>