Two Florida Keys nonprofits are joining forces to expand sexual health resources in Key West.

AH Monroe is a nonprofit organization that has worked to provide health and housing resources to residents of the Florida Keys for more than three decades. The organization began with the mission of fighting the AIDS crisis. Queer Keys is a new Key West nonprofit that opened the Florida Keys’ only LGBTQ+ resource center in October.

The two organizations recently created a formal partnership, hoping to expand their reach in the Lower Keys. The partnership aims to expand HIV prevention measures and community support to LGBTQ+ residents.

“It’s in its infancy, but we’ve started and we have big plans for 2025,” said Scott Pridgen, executive director of AH Monroe.

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The organizations have already launched the first part of their efforts by redesigning AH Monroe’s condom distribution program. “We distribute 10,000 condoms a month throughout the community,” Pridgen said.

With the help of Queer Keys, AH Monroe has the staff to reach several businesses and community organizations where condoms can be distributed for free.

Along with contraceptive materials, AH Monroe and Queer Keys are adding HIV prevention and sexual health education to Queer Keys’ programs for youth and the transgender community. In their youth program, they will host safe sex workshops, including PrEP training, which will be guided by the Monroe County Health Department.

Preparationor pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication that reduces your risk of getting HIV, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

“I hope that by taking education outside of the school walls and making it more of a community activity, we can fill the gaps,” said Chris McNulty, co-founder and executive director of Queer. Keys.

Another major goal of the partnership is to better support an often underserved part of the LGBTQ community: older adults. The two groups will conduct a community needs survey next month to gather feedback from the general public on the type of programs they would like to see.

“Isolation is a big problem for LGBT older adults for a number of reasons,” McNulty said. “So we really want to respond and build the program based on the real needs that are out there and meet people where they are.”