Yolanda Serrano

Yolanda Serrano (died 1993) was an American drug counselor and HIV/AIDS activist. She received the National Organization for Women's Woman of the Year Award and was featured in Ms. magazine as one of the 1988 Women of the Year in 1988.

Early life and education Serrano was born in Puerto Rico to Dhelia and Gaspar Serrano. She had four siblings: Nora, Maria, Debbie, and Michael. She lived in Missouri and New Mexico before moving to Brooklyn in 1961. She divorced her husband in 1975 and raised her two children by herself while paying for and completing university. She was quoted, "They weren't organized the way gays were, nobody wanted to deal with them."

She worked to expand outreach and educational programs for HIV/AIDS infected drug users, prostitutes, and Parolee Aftercare Relapse Prevention support groups. She assembled bleach kits to decontaminate syringes and distribute them, along with condoms, to IV drug users. She started setting up information tables in Williamsburg and Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York, East Harlem in Manhattan, and Hunts Point/Mott Haven in South Bronx. It was the first needle exchange in the United States. In 1985, the Department of Health (DOH) under City Health Commissioner Dr. David J. Sencer had tried to start an exchange, but the State didn't support the initiative. Serrano's announcement forced the issue and her pressure led to pilot needle-exchange program by the DOH. In 1990, after the election of Mayor David N. Dinkins, the city stopped the program but ADAPT carried on without support from lawmakers. Later in 1988, she brought in over $2.5 million for its programs. ADAPT also became involved in federally, state, and city-funded research projects; it was the first community-based program to be funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct an epidemiological research study on HIV/AIDS infection among crack cocaine users.

Death and legacy She died of cancer on October 21, 1993 in St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center at the age of 45.