Alliance for Positive Change

History and Background

Alliance for Positive Change was co-founded in 1990 by Sharen Duke and other volunteers as the AIDS Service Center (ASC) to help treat those impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City. The organization received early support from the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS (DIFFA), which donated office space, and from the New York State AIDS Institute, which provided a founding grant.  ^{2 3}

In 2010, it partnered with the Keith Haring Foundation to open the Keith Haring ASC Harlem Center, and in 2011 it opened a treatment care site in Washington Heights. In 2016, the organization merged with the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, expanding its harm-reduction service offerings. Between 2012 and 2017, the organization’s annual operating budget more than doubled from approximately $10 million to $22 million, according to founder Sharen Duke. ^{4 3 5 6}

In 2017, the organization formally renamed itself from AIDS Service Center NYC to The Alliance for Positive Change to expand its focus to addressing substance abuse, mental health, and chronic illnesses such as hepatitis, diabetes, and heart disease. The organization retains its original legal corporate name, AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, Inc., for tax and regulatory purposes. ^{1 7 8}

Activities

The Alliance for Positive Change provides education and health-related services for New Yorkers, including drug users and former drug users in recovery. The organization offers bilingual English/Spanish services within its programs that include HIV and hepatitis C testing and counseling, case management, medical and holistic care, mental health services, and supportive housing. ⁹

Alliance operates community-based sites throughout New York City including its Midtown Manhattan headquarters, the CASA Washington Heights site, the Keith Haring Harlem Center, the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, and the Luis and Lillian Outreach Center in the East Village. The organization also operates Pelham Grand Supportive Housing, a 90-unit residential facility in the Bronx for people with chronic health conditions and conducts street-level outreach through its “Alliance on the Move” mobile van program. ^{2 10}

A central component of Alliance’s programming is its peer training and job placement model in which individuals who have HIV, have used drugs, or have chronic illness are trained and employed as peer educators as well as outreach workers and case-management support staff. Alliance claims that its direct services reach out to over 5,000 low-income New Yorkers annually, with its Peer outreach and harm reduction education programs reach out to roughly 14,000 annually. ^{2  3}

Alliance has partnered with several New York City hospital systems, including Mount Sinai Hospital and New York-Presbyterian, to coordinate care for its clients. The organization has also partnered with Rethink Food, to support its food and nutrition services, which it claims to have helped provide over 110,000 meals to program participants as of 2024. ^{11 12}

Leadership

As of 2025, Sharen Duke was listed as the co-founder and CEO of Alliance for Positive Change, a position she has held since 1990. Brenda Starks-Ross has held the position of chief operating officer and deputy executive director of the organization. ⁷

As of 2026, the board of directors of Alliance for Positive Change was chaired by Allen Zwickler, with Anita Venkiteswaran as vice chair, Robert Shepardson as treasurer, and Maabo Kludze as secretary. ⁷