Steinway was the one of the first Queens-based mental health/social service agencies to understand the changing nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its impact on minority and immigrant populations. It began offering services to people with or at high risk for HIV/AIDS in 1992. Today, the agency has three programs for this population, the newest is an HIV testing program started in 2008.
- The CAPE or Case Management, Advocacy and Prevention and Education Program whose name describes its various activities. It reaches out to more than 16,000 New Yorkers a year through its advocacy, prevention and educational work. Its case management component insures that all participants get a full range of social, medical mental health and supportive services.
- The TPEP or Teen Peer Education Program targets adolescents, a group a high risk for HIV infection. It provides guided discussions in which participants learn about sexuality, safe sex, abstinence and making healthy informed choices in their lives.
- The Steinway Testing Program which targets populations at high risk for HIV infections. In its first three years the program tested over 1,400 people. Most recently, the testing program has focused on faith-based organizations. Steinway performs the Rapid HIV Test and works with a variety of other health care organizations that also do testing. The initiative is funded by the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS whose funds are distributed by the New York City Council’s Communities of Color Initiative and by other donors.