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Richard Holcomb (born September 21, 1976) is a human rights advocate, street outreach worker and HIV prevention counselor in
Richard Holcomb (born September 21, 1976) is a human rights advocate, street outreach worker and HIV prevention counselor in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
. He is best known for his groundbreaking work in HIV prevention and as the founder of Project Weber, a program for male sex-workers in Rhode Island. The program is named after Roy Weber, a 22-year-old male sex worker who was murdered on Christmas Day, 2003. Holcomb has done extensive research on male prostitution in the United States, Canada and Europe, and has been featured in several films on this subject.
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Project Weber
Holcomb is a recovering addict who began his career inHIV prevention
HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may ...
in November 2007. The Project Weber outreach team he leads provides condom distribution, needle exchange, substance abuse referrals and HIV testing. Holcomb cited the lack of data available on male commercial sex workers in the region as his reason for helping develop a 2010 survey to assess the needs of this population. Project Weber recruited and surveyed 50 male sex workers living on the streets of Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
. Holcomb also cited that the fact that he and members of his team are former sex workers themselves as one of the primary reasons they were able to gain access to the men in order to conduct this survey.
The project has gleaned valuable data on male sex workers who work and live on the streets of Providence. Holcomb and his team were the first in Rhode Island history to gather data on this population. Prostitution in Rhode Island Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Republican Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island between 1980 a ...
was legal until 2009. His work has generated interest from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
and has received national attention.
On October 1, 2013, Holcomb became Project Director of the first peer support drop-in center for male sex workers in the United States. The center's staff meet their clients in a safe and non-judgmental environment, using a harm reduction
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to d ...
approach.
Holcomb has since resigned as director, but continues to be involved in the organization.
In 2016, Project Weber changed its name to Project Weber Renew, after deciding to expand its services to male, female and transgender sex workers.
Awards and honors
Holcomb unveiled Project Weber's long-term plan for the first time at the 2010 HIV Prevention Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.. He received a "hero's recognition" in the September 2012 issue of ''POZ'' magazine and is featured in the documentary films ''Invisible: The Unseen World of Male Prostitution'' and ''Hustler of Providence''.References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holcomb, Richard Living people 1976 births HIV/AIDS activists American male prostitutes Prostitution in Rhode Island