Peer Education & Evaluation Resource Center

The PEER Center promotes the use of peers to help HIV infected individuals enter and stay in care, adhere to treatment protocols, and improve their quality of life. The Center supports the work of the Peer Education Training Sites to train HIV positive peer educators to work in care and treatment settings.

The Center also enhances peer educator services through capacity building and technical assistance to Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grantees, clinics, AIDS Service Organizations and other training organizations that want to develop and expand peer programs.

The PEER Center acts as a Resource and Evaluation center for work that occurs through three Peer Education Training Sites (PETS): the Center for Health Training in Oakland, CA, Harlem Hospital in New York, NY, and the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter, the KC Free Clinic in Kansas City, MO, and the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center. In addition, the PEER Center coordinates training and capacity building work.

Funding for the PEER Center is through the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau, which is a program within the federal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Funding is through the Minority AIDS Initiative.

The Peer Education & Evaluation Resource (PEER) Center is implemented by the Health & Disability Working Group at the Boston University School of Public Health, in partnership with the Center for Training and Professional Development at the Justice Resource Institute (JRI) in Boston, MA.