WELCOME TO UPTOWN HEALTH LINK

Programs & Services Offered:

Harm Reduction-Based Drug User Health Services:

• Syringe Exchange, Safer Sex, and Safer Smoking Supplies and Education
• Street-based Outreach and Drop-Off Services available in some locations
• On-Site Case Management and Supportive Counseling including Assessment and referrals

Washington Heights CORNER Project  (Community Outreach and Resources, Needle Exchange and Harm Reduction) was founded as a volunteer endeavor rooted in harm reduction and aimed towards eliminating the high-risk practices of the Washington Heights drug using community. We seek to accomplish this objective by providing harm reduction supplies and education, tailored case management, and additional support services to the most marginalized and under-resourced community members. By making resources and social services accessible, Washington Heights CORNER Project (WHCP) strives to significantly reduce the transmission of blood-borne disease and infections, infection-related medical problems, and related transmission to drug using associates, family members, sexual partners, and sexual employers. Through these different modes of service, WHCP aims to combat feelings of powerlessness and fatalism among individuals in the drug-using community by affecting their ability to make positive changes in their personal health and social circumstance.

Our most basic and primary mission is to successfully fill gaps in local HIV prevention and service provision efforts with an emphasis on community-led service design. Because drug users are so negatively viewed and dealt with in our society, our vision is fundamentally rooted in respect, open-mindedness, and recognition of each individual’s right to health, shelter, and personal freedom. With a special emphasis on outreach and engagement, WHCP focuses on providing empathic and strength-based participant-driven services with the goal of acting as a catalyst for high-risk behavior change on both micro and macro community levels.

WHCP participants are provided risk assessments and risk reduction tools, education and literature, as well as case management, supportive counseling, crisis intervention, referrals, escorts, and advocacy. By providing supportive counseling and making resources and education accessible, WHCP seeks to change participant views that HIV infection is an inevitable condition of IDU street life. In such a severely underserved community where combined HIV- and drug-related deaths account for 15% of early deaths,¹ it is difficult to believe that WHCP was the first community-based organization of its kind

Recognizing that Washington Heights is a richly diverse yet severely under-resourced community, WHCP also strives to support indigenous resources as well as create and strengthen connections in other parts of our city. Because Washington Heights is over 70% Latino, all aspects of service delivery, including counseling and printed materials, are available in both English and Spanish.

Directions

Washington Heights CORNER Project
76 Wadsworth Avenue, Ground Floor (at 176th Street)
New York, NY 10033

WHCP is easily accessible by both the subway and bus lines, our office is only three short blocks from the George Washington Bridge Port Authority Bus Terminal.
A Train- 175th Street
1 Train- 181st Street
M4, M5, M98, M100, Bx3, Bx7, Bx11, Bx13, Bx35, Bx36 to 178th and Broadway (GWB Bus Terminal)

Contact info

Our office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday’s from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In addition, we have several street-based outreach shifts during a.m. and night hours, for more information on our outreach services and schedule please contact our office at 212-923-7600.

For volunteer information or for more information on how you can get involved please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it For information on donations and giving please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact Executive Director Jamie Favaro at 212-923-7600, ext. 23