Community Leaders Get Candid About Sexual Health
Image description: A photo montage of 3 people from head to waist. On the left is a man with brown, short hair, glasses, a green and brown denim jacket. the middle a woman with shoulder length brown hair with blonde highlights, black long sleeve shirt. The right, a woman with long black hair, and long sleeve pink dress.
(L to R) Roy Jaime, Community Outreach and Education Manager for Corazón Community Services, Mónica Fernández, owner of Drama Beauty in Cicero, Ill and Vanessa Melgoza, Director of Health Services at Corazón Community SErvices in Cicero, Ill. All three community leaders are bringing sexual health education to Cicero (Michael Izquierdo for Cicero Independiente).
By Michael Izquierdo
When Roy Jaime opened up his dating app, he never expected to find his next job.
There, he found a profile under the name of Corazón Community Services, a non-profit agency in Cicero. Their bio listed an array of sexual health services the agency provided.
Corazón Community Services located in Cicero, Ill. offers violence preventions, youth programs and health services to the community members that live in Cicero, Ill. Corazón currently uses popular queer dating apps to have conversations with local users of dating apps about sexual health (Michael Izquierdo for Cicero Independiente).
In a conversation with Corazon staff, he learned the agency wanted to become an outlet to promote sex positivity and education to residents in the area.
That led to an interview and then his role as Community Outreach and Education Manager. Jaime now primarily oversees the same account and uses different strategies like teaching the youth about sex ed and planning events to create a healthier community.
The use of dating apps and hair salons are just some of the tools Corazón and other community leaders are using to promote sexual health education and outreach for HIV/STI testing in Cicero and Berwyn.
In 2003, Corazón Community Services opened their doors to address gang violence in Cicero and Berwyn. Since then, they’ve offered services such as after-school leadership programs for teens, restorative justice programs, tattoo removal services for former gang members and many more.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Corazón began to shift their focus from education and anti-gang violence to improving the overall health of a community, emphasizing sexual health.
“We started off as being the face of anti-gang violence in the community and now we’re going through this transition,” said Jaime. “We wanted to shift towards [Cicero and Berwyn’s] overall health and that includes mental and sexual health. It’s not just for the youth, but the whole community.”
Corazón uses popular queer dating apps like Grindr and Jack’d to reach out and have conversations about health with active users. Both platforms are location-based online dating apps, where users can see each other’s profiles if they’re in close proximity to one another.
Both apps have options where users can send a “tap” to alert other users they’re active and want to chat. These taps can be a “hello” message on Grindr to a “wave” message on Jack’d.
“Usually, I send a tap to everyone around me,” said Jaime. “And when people message me, I reply saying something like ‘Hey, these are the services we offer, if you have any more questions you can call us or you can come and stop by.’”
Corazón’s profile lists their services in English and Spanish on these apps in order to be accessible to more people.
“I know we’ve had some people come in and get tested because of Grindr and Jack’d,” said Jaime. “It’s also a way to aim towards being visible for the LGBTQ+, Latino and Black communities.”
According to a 2020 Chicago HIV surveillance report, HIV disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities. Over 50% of people living with HIV are Black and 21.7% are Hispanic/Latino.
Community members that walk into Corazón’s building can access free and confidential HIV/STI testing for anyone 12-years-old and up without needing parental consent. Other sexual health services include referrals for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medicine people can take to prevent getting HIV, and a safer sex kit that includes all types of condoms, dental dams, lubricants and even penis rings.
"A lot of people don't normalize sexual pleasure," said Vanessa Melgoza, Director of Health Services at Corazón. "We want to normalize not only just getting yourself tested but talking about sex with your partners and having those conversations about getting tested and seeing what you like and what you don't like."
Across town, community leaders are bringing sexual health education into their own businesses.
Mónica Fernández has owned her beauty and hair salon, Drama Beauty Cicero, for nearly three years. There she provides space to promote HIV/STI testing for youth and helps employ trans women.
Fernández collaborates with community organizations like Corazón and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, an educational and cultural community service in Chicago, to have their health services offered at the salon on a weekly basis.
“The youth come to the salon to get tested and we also help them navigate if they are going through their transition,” said Fernández.
One point she wants to emphasize to anyone getting tested is that LGBTQ+ people aren’t the only ones who can contract HIV.
“People need to open their minds and we need to convey that not only gay or trans individuals get HIV,” said Fernández. “There’s a lot of straight men and women who are living with HIV.”
In 2019, over 70% of new HIV diagnosis in the United States were attributed to the LGBTQ+ population, whereas, 23% of all HIV diagnosis were attributed to heterosexual people.
Through Corazón’s interpersonal work and collaboration with Drama Beauty Cicero, the non-profit agency has been able to grasp how to heal a community beyond sexual health.
“We want to be known not only as an HIV/STI testing center, but a youth center or support center for everyone in the community,” said Melgoza.
Corazón has been working with the school districts to create a more LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum and will be hosting a “Queer Night Out” on Saturday, October 2 to encourage an entertaining and safe space for LGBTQ+ people.
“We have all these things going on because we don’t want to be a nonprofit that says we’re here for everyone but then we don’t show it,” said Jaime. “Actions speak louder than words.”
One thing Jaime, Melgoza and Fernández can all agree on is that they don’t want to be the only ones leading this change to improve sexual health and inclusivity in the community.
“We can only do so much at the end of the day because we are a nonprofit,” said Jaime. “Maybe some other areas in Cicero can put more power and step up by promoting more of the clinics that have HIV/STI services and normalizing it.”
Michael Izquierdo is a local freelance journalist and a contributing reporter for Cicero Independiente.
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