PROJECTS: Sugar and Luis
Wilfredo "Sugar" Gonzalez and her husband Luis San Oguel, both HIV-positive, are a same-sex couple living in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx. Sugar provides child care for parents in the neighborhood, which is among the top zip codes with the highest unmet need for child care services in New York City, according to a study by the New York Child Care Resource & Referral Consortium.
With a lack of affordable child care resources for parents in the area, many of whom are immigrants, Sugar and Luis provide an unconventional but essential alternative. The children Sugar cares for are affectionately known as "Sugar Babies" by their parents and people in neighborhood.