Allies for Health + Wellbeing has worked with community partners to make sure that patients and clients can access the care they need from its early days as the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force. Partner relationships are still an important part of Allies’ work today.
Since December 2023, staff from Allies' outreach and education team have offered free STI testing at Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR)(opens in a new tab) every Wednesday from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and noon to 4 p.m.
“For us, it's a match made in heaven,” said Kelsey Leigh, MPH, director of external affairs and strategic leadership at PAAR. “We're working toward the same goal. We want our clients and our community as a whole to feel safe and healthy.”
Nikki Boudreau, health advocate at Allies, is frequently the outreach staff member testing at PAAR.
“When we have a consistent location that's the same place, same time every week, it's much easier to get people in for testing,” she said. “That's the idea behind all the partnerships we have right now.”
It’s a partnership that works for both organizations: PAAR staff refer their clients to Allies for onsite testing, and people coming in for testing from Allies staff can learn more about PAAR and be referred for their services if needed.
“People come in for testing, and I end up referring folks to PAAR,” Boudreau said. “People can benefit from both services.”
“Having Allies available to test at the office has been such a good fit for our clients,” said Jenny Hempen, LPC, First Steps supervisor for PAAR.
She said that it can be difficult for clients to follow through with additional care when they have experienced a traumatic experience like sexual assault.
“Having it in the office when they're already here … we're getting people tested that we weren't able to get tested before. Whatever we can do to make this experience less traumatic for our clients - that's what we want.”
PAAR’s location on the South Side also gives Allies a presence in a neighborhood other than its office in East Liberty.
“People are very pleasantly surprised to find us there,” Boudreau said. “People are able to just walk over to us from their neighborhoods.”
In May 2025, PAAR awarded Allies with its Community Champion award in recognition of the partnership.
“This is the full range of what our partnership is,” Leigh said. “It's definitely many prongs of benefit and reaching folks at different levels. It's worldbuilding work that we're doing together.”
Find other free testing locations at Allies here!
