PowerHouse Charlotte to Close After More Than 16 Years as Federal HIV Prevention Funding Shifts Away From Direct Support of Community-Based Organizations

QCHC Communications
6 hours ago
12 min read

Charlotte drop-in center created as a safe space for young Black gay men faces closure amid changes to CDC HIV prevention funding, raising concerns about testing capacity, health equity, community access and the loss of more than 16 years of trust.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — August 21, 2026 — After more than 16 years of providing free HIV and STD screenings, prevention services, community resources, and a safe and affirming space for young Black gay men, PowerHouse Charlotte will close as federal HIV prevention funding shifts away from directly funding community-based organizations.

PowerHouse Charlotte is a program of Quality Comprehensive Health Center (QCHC) and has been supported through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The closure follows a national change in how federal HIV prevention resources are distributed. Rather than continuing the funding mechanism that directly supported community-based organizations conducting HIV prevention work, CDC funding is being routed through state and local health departments.

For PowerHouse Charlotte, the consequences of that national policy decision are immediate and deeply local.

After more than 16 years, Charlotte stands to lose a trusted community institution, an important source of HIV and STD testing capacity, and a safe space that generations of young Black gay men have called their own.

More Than an HIV Testing Site

PowerHouse Charlotte was established with a particular focus on reaching young Black gay men and communities disproportionately impacted by HIV.

Over the years, however, PowerHouse became much more than a place to receive an HIV test.

Community members could walk through its doors and receive free rapid HIV and STD screenings, prevention education, referrals, and connections to healthcare and supportive services.

They could use a computer to search and apply for employment.

They could access community resources.

They could take a shower.

They could talk with someone who understood.

And sometimes, they could simply sit in a place where they knew they were safe.

For individuals navigating stigma, discrimination, housing instability, unemployment, healthcare disparities, or simply the need to belong, PowerHouse provided something that cannot easily be captured on a grant report or spreadsheet:

A place to be seen. A place to be respected. A place to be safe.

For more than 16 years, PowerHouse built something equally difficult to replace—trust.

Located Where Access Matters

The location of PowerHouse Charlotte is an important part of its story.

PowerHouse operates through Quality Comprehensive Health Center at 1401 Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte’s Historic West End, an area where access to healthcare and supportive resources can be limited for some residents.

QCHC is located in ZIP code 28216, an area identified by Mecklenburg County Public Health as one of its priority ZIP codes for initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes in historically under-resourced communities.

That makes the loss of PowerHouse particularly significant.

This is not simply the closure of a program somewhere in Charlotte. It is the loss of a community-based resource located in an area where reducing barriers to healthcare and supportive services continues to matter.

“Location matters,” said Dr. Ra’Shawn D. Flournoy, CEO of Quality Comprehensive Health Center. “PowerHouse is rooted in Charlotte’s Historic West End, in a ZIP code where access to healthcare and other resources can be limited for some of the very people we serve. We believe people should not have to leave their community or navigate complicated systems just to receive basic prevention services.”

For more than 16 years, PowerHouse has helped bring HIV prevention and supportive resources closer to the people who need them.

That accessibility is particularly important for individuals facing transportation barriers, financial challenges, unstable housing, stigma, or other circumstances that can make traditional healthcare more difficult to access.

“When you place services inside communities that have historically experienced barriers to care, you are saying to those residents: ‘You should not have to leave your community to find help,’” Flournoy said. “That has always been part of what PowerHouse represented.”

“We know this community because we are in this community,” Flournoy continued. “For us, health equity has never been something we discuss from a distance. We see the barriers. We know the people. We hear their stories. And for more than 16 years, PowerHouse has been one of the places where people could walk through the door and receive help.”

PowerHouse Helped Fill a Critical Testing Gap

PowerHouse Charlotte has not operated in isolation from Charlotte’s broader public health system.

Community-based testing has helped supplement local HIV and STD testing capacity.

At times when testing capacity or appointment availability at the local Health Department has been limited, individuals have been referred to PowerHouse Charlotte for HIV and STD testing services.

Because PowerHouse operated as a community-based drop-in center, individuals could access free testing in an environment intentionally designed to reduce barriers to care.

“There have been times when the Health Department simply did not have the capacity to see everyone who needed testing, and individuals were directed to PowerHouse,” Flournoy said. “We were there to help fill that gap. We didn’t view the Health Department as our competition. We were partners in protecting the health of this community.”

The closure therefore raises an important practical question about what happens to local testing capacity when community-based organizations lose the resources that allow them to provide those services.

“If the strategy is to move these resources primarily through health departments, we also have to acknowledge the capacity challenges that already exist,” Flournoy said. “When the Health Department was at capacity, community-based organizations like ours helped provide another door. Now one of those doors is closing.”

For someone seeking an HIV or STD test, access is about more than convenience.

That person may already be navigating fear, stigma, transportation challenges, work schedules, concerns about confidentiality, or discomfort entering a traditional healthcare environment.

Being told that an appointment is unavailable can become one more barrier between that individual and knowing their status.

“Every referral represented a person who was trying to take responsibility for their health,” Flournoy said. “When someone is ready to get tested, we should be doing everything possible to make sure they can receive that test—not creating another barrier.”

From a New HIV Diagnosis to Treatment—Sometimes Within Two Hours

PowerHouse’s impact did not end when an HIV test produced a reactive result.

Because PowerHouse operates within the broader continuum of services available through Quality Comprehensive Health Center, individuals newly identified as living with HIV could be rapidly connected to the care and support they needed.

Rather than handing someone a referral and asking them to navigate a complicated healthcare system on their own, QCHC could immediately begin coordinating the next steps.

Individuals newly identified as living with HIV could be linked to medical case management, connected with a medical provider, and receive their HIV medication from Quality’s in-house pharmacy—sometimes all within approximately two hours.

That integrated model helped reduce one of the most vulnerable periods in the HIV care continuum: the time between learning one's status and actually entering treatment.

“Think about what it means for someone to walk through our doors not knowing their HIV status and, after receiving a positive result, not have to leave wondering what happens next,” Flournoy said. “We could surround that individual with care immediately. We could connect them with a medical case manager, get them in front of a provider, and have medication in their hand from our own pharmacy—sometimes within two hours.”

For QCHC, that rapid response represents what community-based HIV prevention can accomplish when testing, medical care, case management, and pharmacy services are connected.

“We didn't want to give someone a diagnosis and a phone number,” Flournoy said. “We wanted to give them a pathway forward. When somebody learns they are living with HIV, those next few hours matter. They need to know that HIV is treatable, that they can live a full life, and most importantly, that they are not going through this alone.”

The ability to move someone quickly from testing to medical care also demonstrates why PowerHouse has functioned as more than a standalone prevention program.

It has served as an entry point into a continuum of HIV care.

“That is the difference between simply providing a test and building a system of care,” Flournoy said. “Our goal wasn't just to identify HIV. Our goal was to make sure that when we identified someone newly living with HIV, there was no gap between knowing their status and knowing where their care would come from.”

“PowerHouse Is Part of My Story”

For Flournoy, the announcement carries significance that extends far beyond his position as CEO.

PowerHouse is part of his own story.

In 2012, Flournoy began working at PowerHouse as a Prevention Coordinator, helping connect members of the community with HIV prevention education, testing, and resources.

He later became Prevention Director, taking on greater responsibility for the very work and community that helped shape his career.

More than a decade later, Flournoy now serves as CEO of Quality Comprehensive Health Center, the organization through which PowerHouse Charlotte operates.

That makes announcing its closure especially difficult.

“This one hits me on another level. I am making this announcement as the CEO of Quality Comprehensive Health Center, but I cannot separate the CEO from the young man who walked into PowerHouse in 2012 as a Prevention Coordinator. PowerHouse is part of my story.”

Flournoy said PowerHouse shaped his understanding of what effective HIV prevention and community health actually require.

“PowerHouse taught me very early that HIV prevention is about much more than giving someone a test. You have to build trust first. You have to meet people where they are. Sometimes somebody came through our doors because they needed an HIV test. Sometimes they needed help finding a job. Sometimes they needed a shower. Sometimes they needed somebody to listen. And sometimes they simply needed a place where they could be a young Black gay man in Charlotte and know they were safe.”

Flournoy’s journey would eventually take him from frontline prevention work to leading prevention programs and, ultimately, executive leadership.

“I have seen PowerHouse from so many different seats. I served on the front lines as a Prevention Coordinator. I had the privilege of leading as Prevention Director. And now I sit in the CEO’s seat having to announce that a place that has meant so much to me and this community will close. I never imagined this would be part of my journey.”

A National Funding Decision With Local Consequences

The closure comes amid a significant change in the federal government’s approach to funding community-based HIV prevention.

Rather than continuing a funding mechanism that directly supported community organizations conducting HIV prevention work, federal resources are being redirected through state and local health departments.

For Quality Comprehensive Health Center, the issue extends beyond the loss of a grant.

It is about what happens when organizations that have spent years developing trusted relationships with communities most affected by HIV lose the infrastructure that makes that work possible.

“People will hear ‘federal funding change’ or ‘grant ended,’ but those words do not tell the whole story,” Flournoy said. “The real story is what happens here in Charlotte when those dollars disappear. A door closes. Testing capacity is reduced. Staff positions are affected. And a community loses a place it has trusted for more than 16 years.”

Community-based organizations can often reach individuals who may be less likely to access prevention services through traditional healthcare environments.

For QCHC, shifting how prevention dollars are distributed without preserving adequate community-based infrastructure risks creating new gaps in access.

“You cannot strengthen public health by weakening the community partners that health departments themselves have relied upon,” Flournoy said. “PowerHouse helped extend the reach of HIV prevention in Charlotte. Losing that capacity should concern all of us—not only the people who walked through our doors.”

You Cannot Replace 16 Years of Trust Overnight

HIV prevention requires more than tests, supplies, buildings, and funding.

It requires trust.

An individual must trust an organization enough to discuss highly personal matters, receive testing, learn their status, access prevention services and, when necessary, be connected to medical care.

For communities that have experienced stigma, racism, homophobia, discrimination, or barriers within healthcare systems, that trust can take years to establish.

“You can move money from one line of a federal budget to another,” Flournoy said. “What you cannot move that easily is trust. You cannot transfer more than 16 years of relationships with the stroke of a pen.”

For generations of community members, PowerHouse represented those relationships.

“There are people who received their first HIV test at PowerHouse. There are people who came through those doors afraid and left empowered. There are people who found jobs, found resources, found friendships and, in some cases, found family.”

Quality Was Preparing to Expand—Not Retreat

The loss of federal funding is especially difficult because Quality Comprehensive Health Center had been actively investing in expanding its community-based health and HIV prevention efforts.

Most recently, QCHC purchased an ambulance to be converted into a mobile community health clinic, creating another way to take essential health services directly into Charlotte neighborhoods.

The mobile clinic represents an extension of the same philosophy that has guided PowerHouse for more than 16 years:

Meet people where they are and remove as many barriers to care as possible.

Through the mobile clinic, QCHC plans to bring rapid HIV and STD screenings, general health screenings, prevention education, linkage to care, and other health resources directly into the community.

The initiative is designed to reach individuals who may face transportation challenges, lack access to routine healthcare, or feel more comfortable receiving services in familiar community settings.

“What makes this even more difficult is that we weren’t preparing to do less—we were preparing to do more,” Flournoy said. “We recently purchased an ambulance that we are converting into a mobile clinic because we want to take rapid HIV and STD testing and health screenings directly into our communities.”

The combination of PowerHouse Charlotte and QCHC’s mobile clinic represented a broader community-access strategy: maintain a trusted physical location where individuals could walk through the doors for help while simultaneously taking prevention and healthcare services directly into neighborhoods.

“Our vision was never to sit inside four walls and wait for people to find us,” Flournoy said. “We want to take healthcare into neighborhoods, community events and underserved communities, and directly to people who continue to experience disparities in HIV and other health outcomes.”

The federal funding change now creates significant challenges for the resources available to sustain and expand that vision.

“That is what makes this moment so frustrating,” Flournoy said. “We have invested in infrastructure. We have a mobile clinic. We have years of experience. We have relationships in the community. Most importantly, we have people who still need these services. What we are losing is a funding mechanism that helped organizations like ours put those resources to work.”

The Mission Does Not End Here

Although the PowerHouse Charlotte drop-in center will close, Quality Comprehensive Health Center remains committed to serving Charlotte and continuing the fight against HIV, sexually transmitted infections, health disparities, and barriers to care.

QCHC will continue working to connect individuals with medical care, HIV services, behavioral health services, prevention resources, pharmacy services, case management, and other supportive services through the health center and its community partnerships.

The organization also intends to continue pursuing opportunities to deploy its mobile clinic and expand community-based access.

But QCHC believes the closure of PowerHouse should serve as a call to action.

The organization is calling upon healthcare systems, corporations, philanthropic organizations, foundations, elected officials, government partners, and community leaders to consider investing in the next chapter of this work—including opportunities to support QCHC’s mobile clinic and preserve the community-centered services that made PowerHouse successful.

“We already have the vehicle. We already have the experience. We already have the community relationships. And unfortunately, the need has not disappeared,” Flournoy said. “What we need now are partners who believe that accessible HIV prevention and community healthcare are worth sustaining.”

For Flournoy, finding a way forward would also preserve a mission that has been intertwined with his own professional journey since 2012.

“I am grieving this as a CEO, but I am also grieving it as that Prevention Coordinator from 2012. PowerHouse gave me an opportunity to serve. It helped me discover purpose. It helped shape the leader I became. That is why I refuse to believe that everything PowerHouse has built over more than 16 years simply has to disappear.”

QCHC remains open to conversations with partners interested in investing in, preserving, or reimagining the PowerHouse model, including opportunities to take its prevention mission on the road through the organization’s mobile clinic.

“Maybe the next chapter doesn’t look exactly like the last 16 years,” Flournoy said. “Maybe PowerHouse doesn’t have to be defined only by four walls. With the right partners, we can take that same spirit—the testing, the education, the trust, the safety, and the commitment to meeting people where they are—and bring it directly into communities across Charlotte.”

“Sixteen years of impact deserves more than a goodbye. It deserves a next chapter.”

About PowerHouse Charlotte

PowerHouse Charlotte is a community-based HIV prevention and drop-in program operated through Quality Comprehensive Health Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For more than 16 years, PowerHouse has provided a safe and affirming environment with a particular focus on young Black gay men and communities disproportionately impacted by HIV.

Services and resources have included free HIV and STD screenings, HIV prevention education, employment-search assistance, computer access, showers, community resources, referrals, connections to supportive services, and a welcoming environment where individuals could connect with staff and one another.

PowerHouse has also served as an additional community testing resource when individuals were unable to access timely testing elsewhere within the local public health system. When individuals were newly identified as living with HIV, QCHC’s integrated model enabled rapid linkage to medical case management, medical care, and its in-house pharmacy.

About Quality Comprehensive Health Center

Quality Comprehensive Health Center is a nonprofit community health organization located in Charlotte’s Historic West End. QCHC provides comprehensive healthcare and supportive services designed to improve health outcomes and reduce barriers to care, including primary care, behavioral health, HIV care and prevention, pharmacy services, case management, community outreach, and supportive resources.

QCHC is also developing a mobile community health clinic from a recently purchased ambulance, designed to expand access to rapid HIV and STD screenings, health screenings, prevention education, and connections to care throughout the Charlotte community.

For additional information about Quality Comprehensive Health Center, visit www.qchealth.org or call 704-394-8968.