History

BEBASHI was founded in 1985, in response to the increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS in the African American community of Philadelphia. At the time, there were no HIV/AIDS educational programs or services targeting the African American or other communities of color. The stigma associated with HIV/AIDS immobilized the usual community response to such a devastating threat. Understanding that the behaviors which contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS also cause the transmission of other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as unplanned pregnancies, BEBASHI launched a major community outreach education and service effort to combat the sexual health concerns of communities of color.

BEBASHI’s original educational efforts focused on street outreach to areas of the community most in need of prevention information and the least likely to receive it. Outreach was conducted to active substance abusers on the street and in shooting galleries, to sex trade workers (on the street during their working hours), to youth in arcades, parks and playgrounds, and to gay and bisexual men. Today, BEBASHI continues to conduct street outreach, but has expanded its prevention education services to include more structured programs, which are still based on population specific education designed to provide fewer individuals with a more complex and interactive approach to education and HIV risk reduction.

In 1988 BEBASHI was awarded a five year grant from the Centers for Disease Control’s National Minority Education Program to provide technical assistance for community based organizations providing, or interested in providing HIV/AIDS prevention education to African American and Latino communities in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey Pennsylvania and Virginia. BEBASHI was instrumental in providing organizations throughout the five state region with assistance in organizational and program development and training.

Team BEBASHI At the AIDS Walk 2002

In 1990, BEBASHI expanded its services to the community by offering HIV antibody counseling and testing and case management services for people living with HIV disease. BEBASHI remains Philadelphia’s largest community-based minority provider of HIV/AIDS education and services for the African American community and a model for the provision of culturally specific education and services for other communities of color. BEBASHI has been instrumental in the development of similar services to the Latino community through Congresso de Latinos Unidos and Association Puertoriquenos En Marcha (APM) and to the Asian community through the Korean Businessmen’s Association and the Intercultural Family Services Center (formerly the Philadelphia Refugee Services Center).

BEBASHI is a founding member of the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium, the Circle of Care, Minority AIDS Project of Philadelphia, the National Minority AIDS Coalition, the Washington West Project and the AIDS Fund.