The Greater Bridgeport Adolescent Pregnancy Program’s (GBAPP) Teen Outreach and Primary Services (TOPS) project, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, provides outreach, peer support, and social networking to youth at-risk for HIV. TOPS targets youth, including those in the custody of the juvenile justice system, male and female prostitutes, substance abusers, pregnant, gay, bisexual, lesbian, minority, runaway/homeless, and other disenfranchised youth. TOPS addresses the problems of these youth who traditionally do not use or under-utilize social, health, educational, and community resources due to sociocultural, educational, or economic barriers.

The TOPS project recruits young people through street outreach, community-based organizations, and educational programs in order to inform them of the program and to expand youth access to health and psychosocial support services. As of February 1998, 2,614 hard-to-reach adolescents at risk for HIV/AIDS had been contacted.

The chart below illustrates the different types of services that have been utilized the most by these youth. The young people enrolled in the TOPS project receive a wide range of services. The types of services provided include individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, case management, primary prevention, HIV and peer support groups, HIV education, referrals, HIV testing, medical appointments, family planning, and HIV risk assessments. Several other key activities are available to youth through TOPS. For example, TOPS’ recreation, transportation, job training, and childcare components are essential to attract, engage, and maintain teen attendance. Sports, exercise programs, field trips, and community parties also are activities valued by TOPS clients.

Because of the target populations’ extreme needs in accessing services, minor changes have been made in the original design of the TOPS model. A series of new services were made available by working with a collaborative network of local health care and social service agencies. The additions to the program network include:

• an HIV counselor from Bridgeport Community Health Center who provides testing and counseling;

• a mental health professional from Family Services Woodfield at 2 specialty clinics to ensure confidentiality;

• a dentist from the Bridgeport Hospital Community Health Center to provide dental screening for clients;

• adolescent-specific HIV clinics at Bridgeport Hospital and the Park City Primary Care Center; and,

• substance abuse counselors from Guenster Rehabilitation Center.

In the future, the TOPS service model will expand upon current outreach/early intervention services for both underserved HIV seropositive young people, and youth at high risk for HIV infection, ages 15 to 24. TOPS continues to refine its model by incorporating innovative health, nursing, and ancillary services — including mental health and substance abuse treatment — to improve participation by youth in HIV counseling and testing. This, in turn, will ensure timely diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment of manifestations of HIV infection and complications of HIV/AIDS for the youth served through the TOPS project. Also take a virtual tour of the GBAPP/TOPS project.

For more information contact Rudy Feudo, Ph.D., Executive Director, Greater Bridgeport Adolescent Pregnancy Program, Inc., 200 Mill Hill Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06610, 203.384.3629, gbapp@aol.com (e-mail).

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