Positive:
The Story of the Larkin Street Youth Center
The Story of the Larkin Street Youth Center
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POSITIVE is a gritty story of hope and redemption on the streets of San Francisco’s
Tenderloin. Through the stories mainstream society would most prefer to ignore – street
kids living with HIV/AIDS -- this documentary will explore the work of the first facility in the
nation to offer comprehensive care and residential facilities to HIV+ 18 – 25 year olds.
Established in 1997, Larkin Street Youth Service’s Assisted Care Program not only
attempts to turn these kids’ lives around, but in so doing, help reduce the transmission
of the deadly virus among those most at risk for contracting, and spreading, it.
Tenderloin. Through the stories mainstream society would most prefer to ignore – street
kids living with HIV/AIDS -- this documentary will explore the work of the first facility in the
nation to offer comprehensive care and residential facilities to HIV+ 18 – 25 year olds.
Established in 1997, Larkin Street Youth Service’s Assisted Care Program not only
attempts to turn these kids’ lives around, but in so doing, help reduce the transmission
of the deadly virus among those most at risk for contracting, and spreading, it.
The first licensed residential care program for youth
living with HIV/AIDS in the nation, Larkin Street’s
Assisted Care Program was originally designed to
provide stable end of life residential care for youth
who were not only disconnected from social and
health services, but from their families as well. But
with advances in medical care, the original design
has evolved from that of a hospice environment to a
supportive facility providing these youth with the
opportunity to not only build community, but to turn
their lives around. Today, the program’s facilities
provide private living facilities, communal kitchen,
dining room and lounge areas, on-site 24-hour
medical care and case management.
living with HIV/AIDS in the nation, Larkin Street’s
Assisted Care Program was originally designed to
provide stable end of life residential care for youth
who were not only disconnected from social and
health services, but from their families as well. But
with advances in medical care, the original design
has evolved from that of a hospice environment to a
supportive facility providing these youth with the
opportunity to not only build community, but to turn
their lives around. Today, the program’s facilities
provide private living facilities, communal kitchen,
dining room and lounge areas, on-site 24-hour
medical care and case management.
Designed to increase life skills, the program emphasizes strong peer support and structured
activities that, ideally, allow the youth to reclaim the control they lost when they became HIV
positive and to restore the hope that was destroyed when they lived on the streets. Over a 72-hour
period, Positive, captures the gritty reality, the ups and downs, that define the everyday struggle of
the youths served by the Larkin Street Center.
activities that, ideally, allow the youth to reclaim the control they lost when they became HIV
positive and to restore the hope that was destroyed when they lived on the streets. Over a 72-hour
period, Positive, captures the gritty reality, the ups and downs, that define the everyday struggle of
the youths served by the Larkin Street Center.
Release: In development
Credits:
Barbara Kelley - Writer/Producer
Michael T. Whalen - Director/Editor
Cinematographer - Tim Rosenberg
Credits:
Barbara Kelley - Writer/Producer
Michael T. Whalen - Director/Editor
Cinematographer - Tim Rosenberg