Cyndee Clay, Executive Director

Ms. Clay has advocated for, by and with individuals engaged in sex work or sex for gain with since 1995. She has developed harm reduction based programs and provided technical assistance and training for medical and social service providers both in the U.S. and internationally on topics including HIV Prevention,  LGBT Sensitivity, Sex Work and Harm Reduction. Ms. Clay  served as foundation representative on the Ms. Foundation’s first collaborative for Healthy Girls/Healthy Women, and serves on Washington DC’s Community HIV Prevention Planning Group, and the Health Department’s working group on Substance Use and HIV, and represents the District of Columbia on the national Urban Coalition of HIV/AIDS  Prevention Services.

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Elizabeth Saracco, Director of Programs

Elizabeth Saracco has been with HIPS since Valentine’s Day 2003.Ms. Saracco works closely with the Executive Director in all aspects of program development and organizational goals. She is responsible for HIPS program supervision, evaluation and administration as well as acting as a liaison to foundation and public funders.  Ms. Saracco has developed and implemented numerous interventions including, “Choices” for NJ DOH  and “Charm School” for HIPS which provides peer support, health education, goal setting and advocacy geared towards women who use drugs. She has also worked as a consultant for NECAPT (Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies-) and has presented various workshops on peer based strategies regarding public health and issues around the sex work community at national and international conferences. Ms. Saracco possesses an AA in Liberal Studies from Harcum College, BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a MS in Clinical Psychology from California Coast University. While not doing HIPS stuff Ms. Saracco likes collecting 80’s punk and metal records, watching Arsenal F.C. matches, and experimenting with eye shadow.

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Koki Hurley, Finance Manager

Koki Hurley has worked for the last several years for various environmental non-profits in Finance and Operations.  She received her MBA from Marymount University and her BA in International Relations from The George Washington University.  She is currently the Finance Manager at HIPS.

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Jenna Mellor, Manager,
Outreach and Mobile Services

Jenna runs our flagship street-based outreach, mobile services, crisis intervention,  syringe exchange and coordinates the passionate volunteers who make our work possible. Before joining HIPS she worked at Safe Horizon in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office as a case manager for domestic violence survivors. Jenna is a sex-positive leader and oral historian, who as an undergraduate at Harvard founded the high-impact Female Orgasm Seminar and chaired the Radcliffe Union of Students, a feminist organization devoted to activism and the arts. She has led menstruation workshops for Boston-area teenagers, taught literacy courses to migrant farm workers in New Jersey, and conducted original research into the history of involuntary sterilization in the United States. Jenna reps the big hair and bodacious ways of her beloved hometown, Atlantic City.

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Angel Brown,Client Advocate

Angel Brown came to HIPS as a full time volunteer in 2009, giving as many as thirty-five (35) hours each week of her time.  She was invited to join the Peer Education Program and has grown through that program to her current position.  Angel provides one-on-one counseling, HIV testing and linkage, assistance with referrals and works with HIPS Diversion Program

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Edward Gadson, Client Advocate

Ed Gadson has been working in the HIV field for the past 16 years.  After spending 2 years in Buffalo NY as a Peer Educator for the American Red Cross, 6 years in Tampa Florida as a Medical Advocate he moved the DC Metropolitan area and started working at K.I. services Inc as an Outreach Specialist and HIV Testing Counselor.  Ed came to HIPS in November 2010.

The District of Columbia has more HIV-AIDS cases than any city in the country. Here, a staggering 1 out of 20 people is infected with the virus. And like most American cities with an HIV-AIDS problem, the burden disproportionately falls on the black community. In fact, more than 80 percent of all new cases in the district are African-Americans. What’s even more alarming is that it as estimated that a third of the people infected nation wide don’t even know their infected, thus the rate of infection continues to grow.

HIPS has taking a strong stand to fight the spread of the virus by hiring Edward Gadson to implement an aggressive testing program targeting high risk areas and populations, to not only test those at risk, but to also look at the risk factors and help those at risk by setting safer goal behaviors and creating an action plain based on the Harm Reduction model.

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Alyssa Ballentine, Syringe Exchange Specialist

Alyssa began working with HIPS as an overnight outreach volunteer in November of 2010. She has been working in adult education for the past two years in DC – teaching and tutoring GED and ESOL students, writing a GED curriculum, and developing a program with the DC government. Alyssa has worked with sex workers and researched health conditions of the brothels in Mumbai, India, and is excited to be continuing this type of work with HIPS as a syringe exchange specialist! In her spare time she likes to eat spicy food and dance.

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Michael McRae-Bey, Syringe Exchange Specialist

Mike has been doing outreach for two years, as well as being a HIV counselor and tester.  He joined HIPS so that it will give him a chance to work close with the community and afford him the opportunity to listen and help clients on a more personal level.

 

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Abby E. Dowling, Global Health Corps Member

Abby is one of the two Global Health Corps fellows placed at HIPS for the year. Before accepting the fellowship, Abby was also a member of the Pittsburgh Health Corps, where her interest in the health problems and needs of marginalized populations grew. She then worked for two years at the city of Pittsburgh’s branch of Health Care for the Homeless as a medical case manager, working with both families and children and adults. She was also a volunteer for two years at Prevention Point Pittsburgh, a syringe exchange. She is now working with the Outreach portion of HIPS.

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Evelyn Omala, Global Health Corps Member

Evelyn comes to HIPS as a Global Health Corps fellow from Uganda and has most recently served as an online volunteer IT trainer for children living with disabilities in Western Uganda. She is very passionate about working with vulnerable communities and works very closely with the education and support services team, providing counseling, HIV testing, and referrals to clients.

Still a relatively new resident of the District, Eve is looking forward to remaining positively engaged in helping sex workers and injection drug users make healthy choices through her work with HIPS.

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Catherine Paquette, AIDS United/Washington AIDS Partnership/Americorp Member/Outreach & Crisis Services Program Assistant

Catherine is an Americorps member serving for one year in the HIPS Outreach Department. She was born and raised in the Philippines, and received her BA from Wheaton College, where she studied Communication/Theater and Urban Studies. Before she came to DC, she did outreach to male sex workers as an intern at a Chicago non-profit; did research on public policy, enforcement, and the risks of sex work.  She also explores her passion for storytelling and advocacy as a stage actor and theater artist.