The Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium (PRCTRC) is a clinical and translational research service program that focus on health disparities research prevalent in our community. Within PRCTRC, the Office of Community Research Engagement (OCRE) served as a link between CBO and the academia to develop a T-3 translational research project which served to test the effectiveness of an intervention at the community level (16). The PRCTRC funds duration covered the fiscal year 2012–2013. During a previous collaboration, between the CBO and one of the academic partner, AcS intervention, was developed and implemented with Puerto Rican heterosexual women in a low-income setting. This first pilot project received support from the HHS Office of Women Health (2007–2009) and the AIDS United Foundation (2010-2012). The intervention curriculum incorporates art and intergenerational communication as program delivery strategies to promote sexual negotiation skills and safe sexual practices among women. The preliminary AcS pilot project outcome evaluation showed that the intervention helped to increase HIV knowledge (24% to 66%; 18.9 p < 0.001), STI testing (24% to 36%; 1.7 p > 0.05) and condom use during anal (13 % to 43%) and vaginal sex (20 % to 30%).
