Introducing the Keith Haring Nurse Practitioner Postgraduate Fellowship in LGBTQ+ Health

Record $2.5 Million Donation by Keith Haring Foundation to fund First Nurse Practitioner Fellowship In LGBTQ+ Health

A historic partnership between Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and the Keith Haring Foundation was announced last night at the 2019 Community Heath Awards: the first Keith Haring Nurse Practitioner Postgraduate Fellowship in LGBTQ+ Health.

This pioneering program — the first in the nation — is made possible by a $2.5 million donation by the Keith Haring Foundation. It is the largest private gift ever made to Callen-Lorde, and the largest donation made by the Keith Haring Foundation in its three decades of operation. The gift will establish The Keith Haring LGBTQ+ Health Equity Endowment, which will fund the Fellowship.

“Keith Haring was a visionary in the fight against HIV/AIDS, raising awareness, challenging stigma, and engaging hearts and souls through his art as a person living with HIV,” said Wendy Stark, Executive Director of Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. “The Keith Haring Foundation continues his legacy, and this landmark grant to Callen-Lorde will significantly impact culturally competent health care access for LGBTQ people for years to come.”

Callen-Lorde’s Nurse Practitioner Postgraduate Fellowship in LGBTQ+ Health will be the first in the nation. The project will address a lack of LGBTQ+ training for clinical providers at the national, state and local level. It will have large-scale impact by producing culturally competent providers who will then take the body of knowledge gained through their time in the program wherever they choose to practice after, and producing a guide that will assist other organizations to implement their own population-specific residency programs.

The Fellowship will have a home within Callen-Lorde’s brand-new site in Downtown Brooklyn, slated to open in 2020 at 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension. The fourth clinical site will be designed specifically to meet the considerations for a successful residency program. The space will allow Callen-Lorde to nearly double its capacity with an additional 25,000 square feet of space to provide critically needed healthcare services to LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and the uninsured.

The Nurse Practitioner Postgraduate Fellowship is a timely effort that directly responds to the need for entry-to-practice training for advanced practice nurses statewide, as well as calls from the Institute of Medicine, National Institute of Health, American Medical Association and others for LGBTQ+ healthcare training.

Visit the Callen-Lorde website for additional information and to access the Fellowship application: callen-lorde.org/haringfellowship.