Recursos, eventos e investigación / Resources, events & research

Organization

History

Members of the CQL Collaborative have a history of partnering together to undertake important public health initiatives over the past decade.

2013-2016: The Chicago MSM HIV Testing Taskforce
2014-2017: The Chicago PrEP Working Group
2017-2019: The PrEP x Amor Working Group
2018-2022: The Illinois PrEP Working Group
2019-2022: The Getting to Zero Illinois Working Group
2020-Present: The CQL Collaborative

Over the past decade, members of the Chicago Queer Latine (CQL) Collaborative have consistently come together to address critical public health needs, particularly in HIV prevention and care. From 2013 to 2016, many of our current members collaborated through the Chicago MSM HIV Testing Taskforce to expand testing and outreach efforts for men who have sex with men (MSM). Building on that momentum, the Chicago PrEP Working Group (2014–2017) and subsequently the PrEP x Amor Working Group (2017–2019) emerged, both focusing on promoting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness and accessibility among Latiné, Black, and other underserved communities. These efforts then scaled to a statewide level from 2018 to 2022 through the Illinois PrEP Working Group, bolstering capacity and coordination among public health partners across the state.

Simultaneously, members played integral roles in the Getting to Zero Illinois Working Group (2019–2022), an initiative aimed at reducing new HIV infections and improving care for people living with HIV. By 2020, these collective experiences and collaborations crystallized into the Chicago Queer Latine Collaborative (CQL). In its current form, the CQL Collaborative harnesses the relationships, knowledge, and resources garnered through nearly a decade of teamwork, driving forward innovative public health campaigns that center queer, trans, and Latiné communities across Chicago and beyond.

Mission and Vision

Mission Statement:

To empower QTBIPOC and Latine LGBTQ+ communities in Chicago through community-driven research, leadership development, and culturally relevant health promotion campaigns. To dismantle structural health disparities, specifically in HIV prevention, by providing inclusive, stigma-free health resource navigation that centers the lived experiences of the communities we serve.

Vision Statement:

A future where all public health initiatives are equitable, inclusive, and directly responsive to the unique needs of QTBIPOC communities. A healthcare landscape that values lived experience over traditional credentials, ensuring every Latine LGBTQ+ individual has barrier-free access to the resources necessary for holistic well-being and collective liberation.

Strategy

Core Values

Centering Lived Experience: Elevating the voices of QTBIPOC youth and non-academic professionals as the true experts of their own lives, valuing lived degrees over traditional credentials.
Cultural Responsiveness: Ensuring all initiatives are bilingual, intersectional, and designed to celebrate Latine LGBTQ+ identities rather than solely managing risk.
Shared Power: Committing to equitable, community-driven participatory research where community members lead, co-design, and are fairly compensated.
Intersectional Healing: Embracing multidimensional identities and navigating the complex intersections of culture, sexuality, and health to foster genuine community empowerment.

Guiding Principles

Principles-Informed Practice: Grounding all public health interventions in rigorous, community-engaged research that directly responds to grassroots priorities.
Mentorship and Capacity Building: Fostering structured mentorship models and experiential training opportunities to cultivate the next generation of Latine LGBTQ+ public health leaders.
Digital Resistance and Innovation: Leveraging asynchronous, stigma-free technologies and social marketing to bypass traditional, paternalistic medical systems and meet communities where they are.
Dismantling Structural Elitism: Breaking down silos between academics, clinicians, creatives, and community organizers to deepen the scientific impact of public health work.

Overall Goal

To eliminate HIV-related health disparities and advance holistic health equity for Latine LGBTQ+ communities by actively dismantling medical mistrust, structural violence, and systemic barriers to care.

Overarching Objectives

Scale Culturally Tailored Interventions: Expand health promotion campaigns like PrEParate to reframe HIV prevention through empowering, sex-positive, and vibrant community narratives.
Enhance Digital Care Navigation: Optimize and deploy the OSMe Buddy AI platform to provide 24/7, stigma-free triage, connecting users directly to affirming local providers and essential social services.
Sustain Equitable Partnerships: Leverage federal and foundational resources to build long-term Community-Academic Partnerships (CAPs) that stabilize funding mechanisms for community-led initiatives.
Promote Socio-Cultural Connection: Facilitate media-driven programming, including bilingual podcasts and virtual reading clubs, to validate queer Latine stories and combat social isolation.