Some of the predecessor organizations of PCPV were the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention (NTFAP), the Gay Latino Alliance (GALA), and Community United in Responding to AIDS/SIDA (CURAS), among others.
Operated from 1993 to 2005, the agency had emerged from the CURAS (Community Responding to AIDS/SIDA) and targeted those under-served by existing HIV-prevention resources, including transgender women, Spanish-speaking immigrants, Latino youth, and neighborhood sex workers.
Its dynamic approach to community engagement, education, and outreach was inspired by Paulo Freire, the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, ACT-UP, and El movimiento de liberación gay based in Mexico City.
The distinctive tone of its mission statement, drafted by Chicano playwright Ricardo Bracho, captures the multi-lingual flavor and political urgency of the group's radical vision: Proyecto ContraSIDA is coming to you—you joto, you macha, you vestigial, you queer, you femme, you girls and boys and boygirls and girlboys de ambiente, con la fé and fearlessness that we can combat AIDS, determine our own destinos, and love ourselves and each other con dignidad, humor, y lujuria.
[11] Organized as a constellation of community agents committed to creative care and activist intervention, PCPV served as a springboard for many notable queer Latinx artists, activists, academics, and allies, including Juana María Rodríguez,[12] Marcia Ochoa,[13] Ricardo Bracho,[14] Diane Felix,[15] Horacio Roque Ramirez,[16] Adela Vazquez,[17][18][19] Jaime Cortez,[20] Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Aurora Guerrero, Patrick "Pato" Hebert,[21] Al Lujan,[22] Wura-Natasha Ogunji,[23] Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa,[24] Nao Bustamante,[25] Veronica Majano,[26] Valentin "Tina" Aguirre,[27] and Janelle Rodríguez.