1985 HAF was founded by a group of Latino health and human service professionals and community leaders in response to the devastation that AIDS was causing among Latinos in New York City and the alarming lack of public attention to the crisis. Beginning as a volunteer advocacy group, HAF’s initial activities focused on increasing public awareness and educating elected and appointed officials about the gravity of the AIDS crisis among Latinos. HAF also advocated for culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate prevention education efforts directed at New York City’s diverse Latino communities.

1987 HAF began providing citywide outreach and prevention education services targeted to Latinos. Entre Hombres was the first HIV/AIDS prevention programs specifically designed by Latino gay men to serve the needs of gay Latino men. HAF was one of the first agencies to advocate for needle exchange programs. Additionally, HAF introduced a peer education model in order to conduct outreach to Latino youth and young adults; this became the foundation for our Latino Youth in Action program.

1988 HAF helped create the Northeast Hispanic AIDS Consortium, consisting of leading Latino health and human service providers in five northeastern states and Puerto Rico -- regions with the highest concentrations of Latinos and HIV. The consortium oversaw the publication of one of the nation’s first needs assessments dealing with Latinos and HIV/AIDS. These early efforts were instrumental in securing public and private funds for culturally and linguistically appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention education efforts and treatment in the Latino community.