The Desert AIDS Project introduced its new executive director today.

David J. Brinkman, a former executive director for a Los Angeles-based social service agency helping homeless teens, will take over the post vacated by former executive director Allen Reese on Aug. 1.

"I've long admired the work done by the Desert AIDS Project and believe in its mission," he said.

Brinkman aims to increase the Desert AIDS Project's outreach among minorities and women across the Coachella Valley.

The Desert AIDS Project, which provides social and medical services to those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, primarily works with members of the gay community.

And, in the interest of helping to meet the needs of those who are moving into the valley, officials are discussing ways to better educate and serve the Coachella Valley's African American and Latino residents, as well as those in the east valley who are migrant workers, he said.

Besides homeless teens, Brinkman has worked as an advocate for developmentally disabled adults in Pasadena and for the disadvantaged in Portland, where he worked with the Urban League.

He has an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Lewis & Clark College and an MBA, with an emphasis in Ethical Business Management, from Pepperdine University.

Brinkman and his partner, Joseph Hahn, live in Palm Springs.