Among Men is a modular program delivered online and in person that educates and supports men at the group level – helping them develop a greater sense of confidence and belonging around their sexuality and sexual behaviors.

It is designed for men of all ages and races who have sex with men – or are thinking about having sex with men. Our participants come from all walks of life and include men who are questioning their sexuality, those who are out, men who are HIV negative and those who are HIV positive. Created and maintained at the University of Minnesota, the program is designed to be delivered through community organizations in a flexible format that best supports their members.

Among Men is an outgrowth of the University of Minnesota’s Man2Man program (now retired). Our new curriculum is a response to the changing needs of men’s lives. In an effort to keep up with the times we have restructured and are bringing Among Men to the community by working with partners on developing customized events.

We work closely with community organizations, university groups, churches and HIV/AIDS care organizations to deliver these programs. Explore the Community Partners section for more details on how to become involved.

Are you a leader? We are always looking for men to serve as role models and facilitate our events. The facilitators of Among Men’s programs come from diverse backgrounds and bring a broad spectrum of needed expertise to our programs. We choose our facilitators based on their skills and their abilities to lead small or large group activities and foster open dialogue. We want our facilitators to be as varied as our participants and cover a range that includes advanced degrees and training, but also street smarts and in depth community knowledge.

Among Men’s programs blend social and educational elements to create a safe space for gay, bisexual and other men seeking men (MSM) to talk frankly about their sexual health, including HIV prevention. The Among Men sessions include games, exercises and discussions that often contain slang references as well as medical terms related to safer anal and oral sex, sexually transmitted diseases and negotiating safer substance use. It’s important for facilitators to be comfortable with sexual language used by gay and bisexual men, and to be affirming of diverse sexual beliefs and behaviors.

All facilitators must meet the following minimum guidelines:

• One year of direct HIV prevention experience (this can be satisfied in any combination of employment, volunteering and/or personal experience and education)
• Undergraduate degree or equivalent work/educational experience (minimum of four years) in a field related to public health or HIV prevention
• Related fields include but are not limited to: Social work, psychology, public health, adult education, health education, nursing, medicine, religious studies and alcohol and drug counseling

All facilitators are compensated per event and additionally for follow up calls to participants. The events have a variety of schedules ranging from a weekend to an evening course spanning weeks. Facilitation also includes attendance of training sessions and ongoing communication with Among Men.

Current facilitators must plan to attend one of our training events this year to stay current with both the curriculum and advances in HIV/STI prevention. If you’re a current or prospective facilitator, we want to hear from you. Please contact Keith Pederson, Among Men Project Coordinator, 612.626.7187, peder732@umn.edu.

So you want to be a facilitator? Great!

Give us some details about you and your program, agency or service and we will get right back to you with details. Please allow up to five business days for us to respond. Can’t wait that long? Call Keith at 612-626-7187 or email him directly at peder732@umn.edu

What is a Community Partner?

Community Partners are carefully selected programs/organizations that already interact with the desired target communities that Among Men wishes to serve. A community partner is ideally working with some form of health education delivery to men who have sex with or are attracted to other men. This includes community center(s), church(s), fraternity(s) or student organization(s), etc.

One of the key characteristics community partners share is a unique ability to sponsor an event and recruit attendees for the event.

Among Men is a series of modules that utilize both large and small group activities to help participants explore their past in order to craft their ideal future. The modules are designed for flexible delivery as a stand-alone event, a series of sessions or even a retreat.

What is the Vision?

“The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

It takes strong neighbors to build a healthy community. Community Partners of Among Men share vision to work with one another supporting participants in building and achieving their best lives by envisioning self-determined goals.

Each of the named community partners will be coached and guided in the development and staging of an event or series of events custom tailored to meet the scheduling needs of their service demographic. The modular design of the curriculum breaks content into six two-hour sections. Each section has been developed to address a specific area of the participant’s life. In dealing holistically with the Physical, Mental/Emotional, Sexual, Relationship and Spiritual areas of the individual, participants can gain perspective and begin to see the interconnectivity between each of these key areas of living.

Some communities have specific needs that go beyond those addressed in the basic curriculum. These additional areas can also be addressed through the implementation of “booster” modules. Currently there are three booster modules available for: HIV positive participants, Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and older men who have sex with men (OMSM). Determination of when and where these boosters will be implemented is determined jointly by the community partner and the Among Men team.

What is the Reward?

Through community partnership and collaboration we can reach a broader audience and serve a greater number of individuals. Additionally, the community partners will have access to and presence on the Among Men web infrastructures that include:

• A multimedia rich website with integrated calendar and blog functionality.
• Co-branded collateral featuring logo and mission of both Among Men and community partner. This includes advertising, print marketing and recognition on the Among Men website. Community partners will also have the opportunity to feature upcoming events on the calendar component of the website, inclusion in posts we send to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. and opportunities to collaborate on video projects for the Among Men YouTube channel.
• Potential for training; each community partner is invited to send a staff or volunteer to the Among Men Spring facilitator training. The training pays $100/attendee*
• A $750.00 staging incentive (paid after successful scheduling of event)
• Sliding participant incentives.
• Potential for financial assistance at events where the community partner will be represented (Pride events, conferences, community events, fairs, etc.).
• Facilitator payment if the community partner has trained a staff or volunteer and collects per diems** for program staff providing services to other agencies.

What is the Commitment?

• Each community partner will be asked to commit to assisting Among Men in customizing the module deployment, staging at least one event in the current grant cycle (January 1 – December 31, 2012), promotion and registration referral for the event they are partnering on.
• Communication of needs associated with the event they are partnering on.
• Submission of materials and events that community partner would like to have promoted by Among Men.

*If the facilitator is attending as an independent contractor all required University of Minnesota paperwork must be completed before payment is awarded. If the attendee is participating on work time for the community partner the determination of who receives the award (attendee or program) is left to the discretion and negotiation of the community partner and attendee. If the program is receiving the award all necessary paperwork must be in place before payment is awarded.

**If a community partner is providing one or more of their own staff or volunteers as facilitators of the event they stage the determination of who receives the payment is at the sole negotiation of the facilitator and the program.

So you want to be a Community Partner?

GREAT!

Give us some details about you and your program, agency or service and we will get right back to you with details.