Project STAY In the Media
Here is a collection of notable media coverage on Project STAY throughout its 30-year history. Some articles are behind a paywall, but many are accessible to the public. Under each link is a quote from the article, selected by the Project STAY staff!
Columbia University Public Health (2024):
HuffPost (2010): HuffPost's Greatest Person Of The Day: Dr. Alwyn Cohall, Harlem Health Advocate
I grew up in Harlem, a community steeped in a rich heritage of cultural and political achievement. However, it is also a community beset disproportionately by health problems. Even as a child, I knew I had to do something to help better conditions for my family, friends and neighbors. Becoming a doctor was my way to help.
Columbia University Public Health (2014): Project STAY: Keeping Young People Safe and Healthy (Video Interview with Dr. Cohall. Our favorite!)
I was walking across campus one day, and a voice called out to me, and she said, “Dr. Cohall, don’t you remember me?” She said “I just wanted to thank you. Years ago, you and your staff in your school based clinic took care of me when I was down, when I was depressed, when I had a suicidal attempt, when I had chlamydia, when I had an abortion. You and your nurse practitioner and your social worker—they were there for me and I was able to graduate from High school. And now I’m a second year law student at Columbia. That’s what can happen when you have a team of people working with young people to kind of identify, foster, and enhance their resilience. And if we can do that, I think we’d be a better city, a better country.
Weslyan Alumni Magazine (2006): Breaking the Grip of Poverty
Young adults need special attention, he says. “They are juggling adolescence, relationships, and school—and trying to incorporate an HIV-positive identity, wondering if they will have a future. Now, with advances in medical treatment, we can say with more confidence, yes, you will have a future. The key, though, is to help motivate them to believe that their future will be better than their present.” One of Cohall’s patients, a young man in his late teens now in college, recalls the help provided by Project STAY. “At first, it seemed as though time was short and I had all this energy, so I’d better live faster. Now, every morning I ask myself, ‘What are you doing today to build your tomorrow?’”
Columbia Public Health Magazine (2020, 2022):
50 Years of Thinking Differently
Teenagers are notoriously noncompliant, whether you’re handing them a prescription for an antiviral drug or a supply of condoms. And the predominantly African American and Hispanic teens were up against disparities in access to care because of their race, age, and economic circumstances. Many had limited access to good nutrition and were exposed to stressors like a parent’s unemployment. “I grew up in Harlem,” Cohall recalls. “I know what it’s like to not have heat and to go to bed with gloves on, to have to run the stove all night to keep warm.”
For example, its service component, Project STAY (Services To Assist Youth) launched in 1990 to provide tailored care to young people living with or at risk for HIV. The program has helped thousands of youth access care, trained countless students from public health and other disciplines, and provided the framework for community participatory research studies.
Clinical Directors Network (CDN, 2014): It’s Not Just Condoms and STDs: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Young Men
Even when young men receive information about sexual and reproductive health, it is often too little and too late. For example, even though sex education in high schools is now almost universally acceptable, at present, only one third of adolescent males were taught about contraception and healthcare.
Eurekalert (2016, 2017):
Manhattan DA's office awards $10.3 million grant to create Youth Opportunity Hub
"I am delighted to accept this grant which will help build upon our work on incarceration and public health -- particularly as it relates to prevention -- creating an "urban sanctuary" for high-risk youth to reduce their involvement in the criminal justice system," said Dr. Cohall.
NY State Department of Health AIDS Institute funds HIV/AIDS prevention in high-risk youth
"Our main challenge is to identify individuals in need of care and to treat them as soon as possible. Another big goal of ours is preventive care. Nothing will help stop the AIDS epidemic more than preventing the disease in the first place."
Ny Daily News (2011): Mobile Health Team of Project STAY gets high school students to open up
There are approximately 19 million STI cases in the U.S. annually. Young people age 14 to 24 (Project STAY’s target group) account for about half that total. “That is like you fill up Yankee Stadium 180 times,” Cohall said. “One thousand young people catch an STI every hour. It’s estimated that one in four teenagers will catch an STI before they get to high school.”
Columbia Medicine Magazine (2021): COVID-19 News: Homebound: Pandemic Takes Project STAY to Youth Where They Are
In June 2020, Project STAY added at-home STI testing in partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. “The home testing filled a tremendous void,” says Dr. Cohall, when the majority of New York City’s sexual health clinics were closed.
