EJAF December 2009 Grants
These grants represent EJAF’s continuing commitment to funding demographics and geographic regions that are seriously impacted by HIV/AIDS and under-served by traditional funders. The 15 grants awarded through this funding cycle are distributed over all of the Foundation’s targeted areas: The Southern United States; Latin America and the Caribbean; incarcerated populations; men who have sex with men (MSM); harm reduction; African Americans; and young people. Many of these grants have overlapping areas of focus, i.e., Latin America and MSM, MSM and harm reduction, African American young people, etc.
“EJAF’s strategic approach allows us to respond adroitly as the global AIDS epidemic evolves, investing donor dollars where they are most needed and will have the greatest impact,” stated EJAF’s Executive Director Scott Campbell. “Some of these grants are requests for renewed funding for organizations EJAF has partnered with in the past, and we have been very gratified to learn about important new issues that have arisen during the course of their work, resulting in funding requests for programs that have evolved to address these issues. The ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project is an excellent example, because it addresses HIV prevention but also reaches beyond to the more fundamental needs of young people for comprehensive reproductive health education.”
Mr. Campbell concluded, “During these uncertain financial times, all of us at EJAF are particularly pleased to be able to continue to offer support to organizations serving populations most affected by HIV/AIDS, many of which are struggling to secure sufficient funding.”
EJAF December 2009 Grant List
Major Direct Grants
The Caribbean
Partners in Health, (PIH), Boston, MA, $200,000
Latin America
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, New York, NY, $150,000
The Collaborative Fund for HIV Preparedness, The Tides Foundation, New York, NY, $275,000
Youth and Sexual Health
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York, NY, $50,000
HIV Prevention for Men Who Have Sex With Men
Community AIDS Resource Coalition (Care Resource), Miami, FL, $40,000
New Leaf: Services for Our Community, San Francisco, CA, $40,000
Positive Impact, Inc., Atlanta, GA, $39,998.51
San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco, CA, $40,000
HIV/AIDS in Incarcerated Populations
Bailey House, Inc., New York, NY, $30,000
National Prison Project (NPP), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York, NY, $150,000
Addressing HIV/AIDS in the Southern United States
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Akron, OH, $37,450
National AIDS Fund (NAF), Washington D.C. , $125,000
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), New York, NY, $40,000
Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council, Lake Charles, LA, $39,466
Harm Reduction
Phoenix Center, Springfield, IL, $25,000
Project Descriptions
The Caribbean
Partners in Health, (PIH), Boston, MA, $200,000 — Providing Comprehensive HIV Care in Saint-Marc, Haiti: Since 1998, Partners in Health (PIH) has provided high-quality HIV/AIDS treatment in rural Haiti, through a community-based model of HIV care that has achieved extraordinarily positive treatment outcomes. Currently PIH provides antiretroviral therapy to 4,700 HIV patients across all sites, the total number of HIV patients receiving care (including those on antiretroviral therapy) is more than 19,000. In 2007, PIH expanded HIV care to the lower Artibonite Department, including Saint-Marc, a coastal port city with an adult HIV prevalence rate double that of the Central Plateau. Scaling up HIV care in Saint-Marc offers the opportunity to adapt PIH’s model to the challenges of an urban, diverse population, with lessons learned that will inform further expansion into other urban settings. EJAF funding will support PIH’s comprehensive HIV care program in Saint-Marc at the district referral hospital and a health center, through which PIH will provide care to 2,500 HIV patients, distribute 150,000 condoms, provide HIV counseling/testing to 11,000 people, and provide comprehensive services to 2,250 orphans and vulnerable children.
Latin America
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, New York, NY, $150,000 — MSM Initiative – Latin America: This grant would provide renewal funding for amfAR’s MSM Initiative activities in Latin America. The MSM Initiative’s aim is to significantly improve access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for men who have sex with men (MSM) populations in low- and middle-income countries around the world. The Initiative does this through three core strategies: 1) Supporting and empowering grassroots MSM organizations by providing direct financial support in the form of community awards, capacity-building and technical assistance; 2) Building understanding and awareness about HIV epidemics among MSM and other groups by promoting and supporting relevant research; and 3) Advocating for effective policies and increased funding for programs that address HIV/AIDS among MSM. The Initiative has just announced support for nine projects in the region that provide HIV/AIDS services to, and advocacy for, MSM. amfAR’s funding in the region-made possible by the generous support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation-has had a powerful impact on the ability of grassroots organizations to help this gravely under-served population. amfAR is now in its second year of delivering urgently needed community awards and technical assistance in Latin America. Worldwide, the Initiative has already awarded nearly US $1.5 million in small grants to more than 55 frontline organizations, and has worked to spur multi-lateral organizations and bilateral governments to take action on MSM/HIV issues and provide increased financial support.
The Collaborative Fund for HIV Preparedness, The Tides Foundation, New York, NY, $275,000 — Support for Community Mobilization in Latin America: Funding will support continued advocacy, treatment literacy and community mobilization by the International Coalition Of Activists In Treatment In Latin America (The Coalition), which coordinates all Latin American-focused activities for the HIV Collaborative Fund and the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. During the grant period, the Coalition will coordinate at least one round of grant making to community based organizations providing health literacy, social support, and advocacy to ensure access to comprehensive HIV treatment, care and prevention services and for the protection of human rights. In Latin America, funded projects have a strong focus on improved HIV care quality and access for marginalized populations such as drug users and men who have sex with men, and a secondary focus on treatment literacy for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Coalition will also implement its regional and national advocacy strategies, develop and implement communications and media strategies, and provide on-going technical assistance and capacity building to its local grantees. Oversight for these activities is provided through the HIV Collaborative Fund at Tides Center. Since 2003, the Collaborative Fund has supported over 800 HIV treatment organizations in over 75 countries.
Youth and Sexual Health
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York, NY, $50,000 — ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project: The ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project’s “Advancing Healthy Sexuality Education” project aims to promote effective sex education and healthy sexuality through: 1) communications research in collaboration with cognitive linguists that will offer a new model and new messages for how we think and talk about sex (ultimately boosting political/policy changes that support comprehensive sex education); 2) work with educators to help develop a greater understanding of education policy and reform, and how to integrate sex education reform into these efforts; and 3) state-based advocacy and litigation aimed at rejecting abstinence-only programs and implementing effective sex ed policies in communities around the country. The Project is uniquely positioned to take on this work, given its longstanding history of pressing for effective sex education through litigation and advocacy; its network of ACLU affiliates prepared to fight sex education battles in towns, cities, and states around the country; and the ACLU’s communications expertise.
HIV Prevention for Men Who Have Sex With Men
Community AIDS Resource Coalition (Care Resource), Miami, FL, $40,000 — Youth Health Intervention Project: Care Resource’s Youth Health Intervention Project contributes to the reduction of new HIV infections among young men who have sex with men (MSM) and increases enrollment of HIV positive and high-risk negative MSM in appropriate medical care, treatment and other support services. The Project uses focused outreach providing culturally competent prevention messages to individuals; offering HIV counseling and testing and referral services to 100% of HIV positive individuals and high-risk negative individuals to medical care and other support services and the implementation of the CDC science-based intervention Brief Group Counseling. Staff goes on site with a mobile unit in targeted areas and engages individuals in conversation about HIV, STIs and substance use risks; distributes educational materials and safe sex kits and invites individuals to be screened for HIV. Individuals receive pre-test counseling at the mobile unit followed by HIV screening. The individual can choose the testing type, including rapid testing (Oraquick) where the client receives his result in 20-40 minutes. If rapid testing results are reactive, a confirmatory test can be conducted immediately. The individual also receives post-test counseling. All HIV positive individuals are referred for comprehensive HIV related care and treatment services at Care Resource. HIV negative high-risk individuals are referred for risk counseling, STI services and other prevention services.
New Leaf: Services for Our Community, San Francisco, CA, $40,000 — HIV Prevention Program for Gay and Bisexual Men in Treatment for Crystal Methamphetamine Use: Crystal methamphetamine use is strongly correlated with HIV risk, and San Francisco is in the middle of a meth epidemic that is fueling its HIV epidemic. New Leaf’s HIV Prevention Program seeks to reduce the risk of HIV transmission among gay and bisexual men who are in treatment for crystal methamphetamine use and other substance abuse by providing: 1) individual therapy; 2) support groups and workshops; 3) linkages to HIV testing and care, including on-site testing at New Leaf’s offices; and 4) a “buddies” group for friends, partners, and family members. All elements of the program address the psychological ramifications of homophobia and heterosexism and their impact on clients’ risk-taking behaviors, as well as the issues and needs of clients that derive from their racial/ethnic identities, class status, age, and mental or physical disabilities. The program works with 200 men in treatment each year.
Positive Impact, Inc., Atlanta, GA, $39,998.51 — STI Screening in MSM Populations: Positive Impact provides multiple individual-, group- and community-level HIV prevention and risk reduction programsand free HIV rapid testing for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in Atlanta, GA. EJAF funding will support the incorporation of screenings for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to include syphilis, gonorrhea and Chlamydia into the HIV Prevention Department. STI detection and treatment is particularly important, as these diseases increase the body’s susceptibility to HIV infection and transmission. With EJAF funding, MSM who obtain an HIV test through Positive Impact and who are identified to have had potential exposure to an STI or to describe symptoms of an STI will also receive STI screening during the same visit. Postive Impact will conduct a minimum of 650 STI screenings for syphilis, gonorrhea and Chlamydia annually.
San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco, CA, $40,000 — Priority Appointments for Sexual Partners of Men Recently Testing HIV-positive: Magnet is a community health center for gay men in San Francisco offering rapid HIV antibody tests to over 3500 men annually. To identify men with early HIV infection, Magnet offers HIV RNA tests to clients testing Ab-negative who have recent, elevated risk. In January 2008-June 2009, Magnet conducted 742 RNA tests, identifying 14 (1.9%) early infections which would not have been detected using conventional antibody testing alone. Funds from EJAF would be used to support a system Magnet is developing whereby the sexual partners of men testing HIV-positive can get a testing appointment within 48 hours and an electronic priority appointment system, where newly HIV-positive men receive a uniquely coded coupon to give to their sex partners, either by email, text, or in person. The recipient can then access Magnet’s website to secure a priority appointment for HIV antibody and RNA tests. The volume of clinical visits at Magnet produces over 36,000 client records annually, which must be kept for seven years. EJAF funds will also support an Electronic Medical Record system that would allow Magnet to better track visits, allow clients to schedule return appointments in advance, generate automatic reminders of appointments, and safeguard client confidentiality.
HIV/AIDS in Incarcerated Populations
Bailey House, Inc., New York, NY, $30,000 — Project FIRST: Men and women released from prison face monumental challenges in attempting to rebuild their lives. This is compounded for the many ex-offenders with histories of poverty, homelessness, mental illness, addiction, and it is especially challenging for parolees living with HIV/AIDS. Project FIRST continues as a landmark program of Bailey House to provide safe, permanent housing and supportive services to homeless, HIV+ men and women recently released from prison. These services help individuals successfully reintegrate into their community, find and keep quality permanent housing, and receive the medical care and HIV/AIDS counseling needed to maintain optimal health, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce the risk of secondary infection. Other services include Independent Living Skills training, accessing benefits, advocacy, positive socialization and peer support groups and referrals to educational and vocational training. Project FIRST clients are low-income, many with substance abuse and/or mental health issues.
National Prison Project (NPP), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York, NY, $150,000 — Improving Medical Care and Advancing Rights for Prisoners with HIV: With this grant, the National Prison Project (NPP) of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation will continue its campaign to provide prisoners with HIV adequate, equal access to rehabilitative programs, housing, and medical care. NPP integrates litigation with advocacy and public education to do this work. NPP’s campaign to gain access to work release programs for prisoners with HIV has helped thousands of men and women rehabilitate and begin working prior to release. NPP is now poised, after working for over twenty years on this issue, to end the last remaining ban in the country in South Carolina. Furthermore, NPP’s challenges to inadequate medical care in a number of states has helped bring about a sea change in national medical care standards for prisoners, although certain states still neglect the health of people in their custody. Specifically this year, NPP will: continue advocacy in Nevada and South Carolina, challenging discriminatory policies that prevent prisoners from taking part in prison and work release programs; continue advocacy in Alabama, now focusing on ending segregated housing; and continue litigation and other forms of advocacy against inadequate medical care in Michigan, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Nevada, and California. In addition, NPP will generate public support for this work through a joint investigation and probable publication with Human Rights Watch on human rights standards and HIV in prisons in the South.
Addressing HIV/AIDS in the Southern United States
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Akron, OH, $37,450 — HIV Education for Rural Nurses in the Mississippi Delta Region: The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, in partnership with the CAEAR Foundation, has designed a train-the-trainer HIV education program for nurses in the Mississippi Delta Region. The program targets nurses at non-profit, publicly funded clinics serving African American and other underserved populations and provides two distinct two-hour trainings on consecutive days. The trainings have been developed and facilitated by nurse members of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care with extensive adult learning and HIV practice experience and cover such topics as testing, symptom recognition, prevention messages, and access to care. Once the first group of trainers complete the program, they are then responsible for educating their co-workers and off-site nurses with whom their institutions have relationships. The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care also provides continued mentoring and support for the trainers and a formal individual and program evaluation process. This project will form a template for additional rural nursing trainings.
National AIDS Fund (NAF), Washington D.C. , $125,000 — Expansion of NAF Community Partnership Network in the Southern US: The Deep South states suffer from some of the worst socio-economic and health conditions in the country that are giving rise to disproportionate rates of HIV/AIDS. EJAF funding provides Challenge Grants to each of NAF’s newly developed Southern Community Partnerships serving Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina. These Challenge Grants assist these newly developed Community Partnerships to build collaborative leadership, catalyze private sector investment and strengthen community-based HIV/AIDS services through local grant-making activities. Challenge Grants are matched with locally raised funds and granted to community-based HIV/AIDS organizations through competitive processes based on local priorities. The funding assists the Community Partnerships to become stable by providing consistent grant-making support during their formative years and helping raise their visibility and stature. NAF matches EJAF funding dollar for dollar, turning a $125,000 grant into $250,000 in resources for the new Southern Community Partnerships. National grants will in turn be matched 1:2 locally for a total minimum resource of $375,000.
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), New York, NY, $40,000 — Implementing Evidence-Based HIV-Prevention Programs in the Southern United States: SIECUS provides the knowledge, skills, and expertise needed to strengthen the core competencies essential for community-based organizations to provide evidence-based, high-quality HIV-prevention interventions. The results of such assistance includes increased skills; expanded knowledge; greater ability to plan and implement evidence-based interventions and activities; growth in the quality, quantity, and cost-effectiveness of interventions; and the sustainability of infrastructure systems that support interventions and activities. SIECUS has two primary goals for this project: 1) Strengthen the capacity of three community-based organizations in the Southern United States (FL, LA, and SC) serving young people under the age of 25, especially African-American and Latino men who have sex with men, to build and sustain their HIV-prevention programs; and 2) Increase the proportion of community-based organizations in the Southern United States serving young people, especially African-American and Latino men who have sex with men, which successfully use evidence-based HIV-prevention interventions.
Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council, Lake Charles, LA, $39,466 — Facilitating Access to Coordinated Treatment (FACT): With EJAF funding, FACT wiill implement an effective model of care for HIV+ persons living in southwest Louisiana. The model utilizes two care coordinators who work with newly diagnosed persons from the time of their diagnosis, linking them to quality HIV medical and supportive care, working with them to overcome obstacles to staying in care, and re-linking them to care if they “fall out” of the system. This model is based upon HIV system navigation, adapted from cancer care programs for disadvantaged populations. The system navigation model implements services at all stages — primary and secondary prevention, screening, treatment, and long-term quality of life. The goal of FACT is to stabilize people into HIV medical care, meaning that patients attend their scheduled appointments at least once every six months and are adherent to their prescribed treatment regimen at least 75% of the time. FACT would also work with persons with long-standing diagnoses who have “fallen out” of medical care with the goal of helping them re-link to the HIV care system and stabilize them in care once again.
Harm Reduction
Phoenix Center, Springfield, IL, $25,000 — Springfield Harm Reduction Initiative (SHaRI): After providing housing for homeless individuals who are HIV+ and doing free HIV testing for the past 10 years, Phoenix Center has begun concentrating on the primary causes of infection. Phoenix Center currently works with the MSM population, but they are finding a high rate of infection resulting from injection drug use among transitional housing residents and those coming in for testing. While the national infection rate among injection drug users is around 18%, in Central Illinois it is closer to 23%. The SHaRI program would allow Phoenix Center to do outreach in Central Illinois, including rural areas where meth injection is rampant, through both fixed locations and van outreach. This would include the distribution of clean needles and works, overdose prevention, offering free HIV testing, checking injection sites for infection and other medical issues, and providing information about HIV infection in the process. EJAF funding will support the purchase of supplies for this program.
EJAF September 2009 Grants
Most of these grants constitute second- and third-year commitments to long-range projects that further enhance and strengthen the Foundation’s leadership and investments in the following priority targeted geographic and demographic areas: (1) critically under-funded communities of the Southern United States ($150,000), the Caribbean ($950,000), and Latin America ($300,000); (2) highly marginalized populations such as injection drug users ($700,000) and men who have sex with men ($150,000); and (3) underserved populations such as African Americans ($200,000) and young people ($375,000). The grant cycle also includes $165,000 in small discretionary awards to support ongoing advocacy, stigma reduction, and treatment information efforts.
Several EJAF awards provide excellent examples of the Foundation’s growing national and international leadership, particularly in the African American community and in the field of harm reduction and syringe exchange to reduce HIV transmission among injection drug users. Scott Campbell, EJAF’s Executive Director said, “The renewal grant for the Black AIDS Institute (BAI) will constitute a third year of EJAF funding for the important work of this organization. Over the past two years, EJAF has become deeply involved in helping BAI to lead the charge on the issue of HIV prevention, awareness-raising, and service provision for African Americans. BAI’s Left Behind report, which was covered in the New York Times last year, cited the support and leadership of EJAF on this issue.” In addition, EJAF was recently selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to serve as a core partner in support of the Black AIDS Media Partnership (BAMP), a coalition of media companies convened by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) for the purpose of developing and building a national movement in response to AIDS in Black America. BAI is a primary partner for this initiative.
EJAF is also moving forward as a national leader to support syringe exchange programs across the U.S. through its core partnership with the Syringe Access Fund and to advocate for the elimination of the current ban on the use of federal funding for syringe exchange through its partnership with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. To further underscore both the urgency of syringe exchange advocacy and the timeliness of EJAF and amfAR’s leadership, an editorial in the August 5, 2009 issue of the New York Times argued that the continued failure of Congress to lift the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs was a “clear threat to public health.” The article noted particularly that “a rider attached to two House appropriations bills would actually continue the ban – in a tawdry, passive-aggressive way – by barring federally financed programs from operating within 1,000 feet of colleges, universities, parks, video arcades, day-care centers, high schools, public swimming pools and other institutions . . . . such a restriction would make it virtually impossible to have federally funded programs anywhere in densely packed urban communities.”
Project Descriptions
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, New York, NY, $150,000
This grant supports the continued work of the MSM Initiative in the Caribbean. Launched in 2007, amfAR’s MSM Initiative works to significantly improve access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for MSM populations in countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America through three core strategies: (1) Supporting and empowering grassroots MSM organizations by providing direct financial support in the form of community awards and capacity-building and technical assistance; (2) Building understanding and awareness about HIV epidemics among MSM and other groups by promoting and supporting relevant research; and (3) Advocating for effective policies and increased funding for programs that address HIV/AIDS among MSM. amfAR is now in its second year of delivering urgently needed community awards and technical assistance in the Caribbean. Worldwide, the Initiative has already awarded nearly US $1.5 million in small grants to more than 55 frontline organizations, and has worked to spur multi-lateral organizations and bilateral governments to take action on MSM/HIV issues and provide increased financial support.
Kaiser Family Foundation/Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP), Christchurch, Barbados, $425,000
Since its launch in May 2006, CBMP has grown to include 91 leading broadcasters from 24 Caribbean countries and territories, committed to expanding public awareness about HIV/AIDS and related issues. By sharing information and resources among broadcasters, and building their own capacity to develop and deliver HIV-themed programming content, CBMP broadcasters have established new, coordinated media initiatives that deliver lifesaving messages to help stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and fight AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. CBMP broadcasters cover a total estimated population of some 30 million people in the second most highly HIV/AIDS impacted region of the world. This represents, by far, the single largest mobilization of media in response to any social issue in the region. Their annual airtime commitment to HIV messaging is modestly estimated at US$5 million. EJAF funding will support four key areas of activity: (1) Leadership Development and Member Support; (2) Skills-Building for Media Professionals; (3) Partnership Expansion to Extend Reach; and (4) Coordinated Content & Consumer Resources. Specific outputs will be: (1) Executive Meetings, Road Shows and workshops in at least seven countries; (2) Redesigned evaluation tools; (3) More active Steering Committee; (4) Project awards for production of HIV/AIDS programming; and (5) Strengthened connections between media, national AIDS agencies, community organizations and stakeholders.
Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), New York, NY, $450,000
CHAI’s proposed work throughout the region over the next year will fall in four main areas: 1) Access: CHAI will continue to drive toward lower costs for national treatment programs by working with drug and diagnostic manufacturers to lower the price of key HIV/AIDS commodities and working in-country to ensure that countries have the required systems, such as forecasting skills and adequate supply chains, to allow these commodities to make it from the port to the patient. 2) Program management: As a trusted advisor to its government partners, CHAI will focus on filling national level gaps around strategic planning, resource mobilization, and national policies and programs. 3) Health systems strengthening: Derived from CHAI’s programs in decentralization and rural expansion of HIV services, CHAI will facilitate interventions to help strengthen the systems required to reach under-served populations and to increase the capacity of government’s service delivery structures. 4) Pediatrics/Prevention of Mother to Child Ttransmision (PMTCT): Having helped to catalyze the scale up of pediatric treatment in the developing world, CHAI will continue to work with governments to increase the scope and quality of pediatric treatment programs and engage in targeted interventions to help governments drive improvements in PMTCT. This proposal is requesting support for work against these four goals in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and in CHAI’s Caribbean Consortium.
Collaborative Fund for HIV Treatment Preparedness, New York, NY, $75,000
Funding will support continued coordination for advocacy, treatment literacy and community mobilization by the Caribbean Treatment Action Group (CTAG). CTAG, based in Puerto Rico, coordinates all Caribbean-focused activities for the HIV Collaborative Fund and the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. During the grant period, CTAG will coordinate at least one round of grant making to community based organizations providing health literacy, social support, and advocacy to ensure access to comprehensive HIV treatment, care and prevention services and for the protection of human rights. In the Caribbean, funded projects have a strong focus on improved HIV care quality and access for marginalized populations such as drug users and men who have sex with men (MSM), and a secondary focus on empowerment of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) for treatment adherence. Projects are funded to reach PLWHA in both relatively large countries such as Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and also in smaller countries such as Belize, Suriname, and the islands of the eastern and southern Caribbean. Also during the grant period, CTAG will implement its regional and national advocacy strategies, develop and implement communications and media strategies, and provide on-going technical assistance and capacity building to its local grantees. The HIV Collaborative Fund at Tides Center oversees these activities.
Aid for AIDS, New York, NY, $250,000
Cuanto Sabes de VIH y AIDS? (How Much Do You Know about HIV and AIDS?) is an HIV primary-prevention initiative targeted at teenagers in the developing world. Its long-term goal is to ensure that every youth in the Caribbean and Latin America have access to effective, potentially life-saving HIV prevention education. It was developed in 2004 by an Aid for AIDS (AFAI) program director who had worked as a psychotherapist in Venezuela, along with various Venezuelan peer educators and AFAI’s medical team. These peer educators provided workshops in schools across Caracas, Venezuela, dramatically increasing basic knowledge regarding HIV and AIDS among the youths in that city. By 2006, AFAI expanded the program to the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. The peer educators, by then totaling 311, continued to provide comprehensive informational workshops, reaching over 35,000 youths in those countries. In 2007, the program continued to grow as AFAI expanded operations to Colombia and Ecuador.
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF, New York, NY, $50,000
This grant support the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s work addressing vertical transmission (mother to child transmission) of HIV in Guatemala. Programs strengthening access to voluntary testing will take place together with counseling in prenatal clinics and emergency rooms of hospitals in Guatemala. Access will be strengthened through procurement and distribution of needed supplies including HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B test. Effective interventions carried out by qualified medical professionals have dramatically reduced the rate of vertical transmission in Guatemala. UNICEF is continually updating and expanding training courses to reach a wide spectrum of medical professionals including counselors, medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, chemists and laboratory technicians. Funding will support training in areas including review and updating of protocols; propper administering of ARV treatment; treatment adherence; and psychosocial counseling training. Workshop and trainings will focus on the departments of Escuintla, Baja Verapaz, Quiche, Quetzaltenanago, Sacatepequez, Suchitepequez, and Retalhuleu. UNICEF technical supervisors will provide oversight with health officials responsible for monitoring and evaluation to determine progress toward objectives. Oversight will take place through field visits to hospitals. American Airlines will match EJAF’s grants to UNICEF, thereby doubling the impact of EJAF’s funding.
National Urban Technology Center, New York, NY, $300,000
This renewal grant supports Urban Tech’s efforts to build on the success of the Get Healthy, Get Smart! (GHGS) pilot program within New York City under-served public middle and high schools. Urban Tech’s aim is to promote positive school-wide instructional models that include student and parent input and increase HIV/AIDS awareness (and prevention), while promoting healthier habits overall. The foundation of GHGS is rooted in the Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) curriculum series. Tier 1: Continue to support and sustain the accomplishments of the initial 30 schools; and Tier 2: Expand into 40 new schools in 5 districts located in northern Manhattan, east Brooklyn and south Bronx. Goals include: (1) Integration of YLA’s social and emotional skills for leadership training and healthy living into the New York City Dept. of Education core curriculum and arts enrichment specialty areas; (2) Professional Development workshops, co-teaching and mentoring of teachers over the 2-year time frame to support and enhance instruction in the classroom; (3) Parents as Partners Programming – provide Get Healthy, Get Smart learning opportunities and instruction to parents within the selected school communities; (4) Development of distance learning tools for professional development to provide 24/7 availability of Urban Tech’s innovative approach to teaching and learning, ongoing support of teachers in the program and sustainability after funding ends; and (5) Ongoing evaluation of Urban Tech’s activities.
Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC, $75,000
This grant supports the continuation of Advocates for Youth’s efforts through its 25,000-member Youth Activist Network (YAN) and the Anti-Homophobia/Transphobia Initiative. Activities include: (1) Continuing broad outreach through Amplify, the online home of the YAN. Advocates for Youth expects that the site’s high level of traffic (500,000 visitors this year) will recruit another 10,000 YAN members. Staff will assist the youth to write over 30,000 letters to policy makers and launch at least nine issue-specific campaigns, among other activities; (2) Working with a core group of 17 YAN members who serve as college organizers to conduct on-the-ground advocacy (e.g., organizing a “week of action” around a specific issue and participating in local policy maker education days); (3) Assisting 1,500 college-age YAN members to distribute 750,000 condoms and conduct advocacy and education around HIV prevention and youth-friendly condom availability; and (4) Disseminating materials on gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered (GLBT) youth to 10,000 organizations serving youth of color; training 10 of them on GLBT youth; and providing in-depth assistance to 4 organizations to redress homophobia and transphobia.
Black AIDS Institute, Los Angeles, CA, $200,000
The Black AIDS Institute (BAI) proposes to extend and expand the National Black AIDS Mobilization (NBAM) campaign. In the next phase of NBAM, BAI will focus on one of the major impediments to an effective response to AIDS in Black America — inadequate rates of HIV testing. Building on the progress made in implementing NBAM — including the development and implementation of national strategic AIDS plans by 14 leading national Black institutions — BAI will launch the “Test 1 Million” (T1M) initiative, which aims to ensure that at least 1 million Black Americans get tested for HIV each year. As the cornerstone of T1M, BAI will help create, or support existing, community-driven HIV testing task forces in six high-prevalence states and 25 cities with significant numbers of Black Americans living with HIV. The project will particularly emphasize the promotion of HIV testing in the Southeast US, the region where HIV infection rates are increasing the fastest. With support from BAI, the HIV testing task forces will bring together individual volunteers, local AIDS organizations, Black institutions (including churches), and state/local health departments to plan and implement focused campaigns to promote HIV testing in Black communities. The proposed funding here will support a full-time T1M coordinator; the development, launch and updating of a T1M website; training and capacity-building for local testing task forces, and the production of testing promotion materials.
AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), New York, NY, $150,000
ACRIA proposes to provide training, technical assistance, and capacity building services to 75-90 participants from 45-60 HIV/AIDS service providers at three conferences sites in the southern US during a one-year period. Each package will include a total of four days of intensive tailored training and capacity building from over 20 modules related to HIV and the provision of services to people living with the virus, conducted by a trained capacity building team in ACRIA’s HIV Health Literacy Program (HHLP). The group trainings will utilize ACRIA’s comprehensive Training Manual, and all curriculum modules and training materials will be individually tailored to each site’s specific needs. An automated digital audience response and assessment system (i.e., TurningPoint) will enable the educators to assess the training instantly and to make needed modifications as the training progresses. In addition, the trained HIV health educators in ACRIA’s HIV Health Literacy Program (HHLP) will work individually with each participating agency to develop a service integration plan to incorporate HIV health literacy and treatment and healthcare information into its existing service menu. Ongoing technical assistance and capacity building services will be available both to help each agency implement its integration plan and to keep participants abreast of new developments. In each location, two trainees will be brought to New York City to spend a week at ACRIA’s offices to shadow and receive coaching from HHLP staff.
Syringe Access Fund, New York, NY, $600,000
EJAF has been a participating funding partner of the Syringe Access Fund for the past 3 years. EJAF will commit $300,000 per year over two years (total $600,000) to the Syringe Access Fund to support grants to community based organizations engaged in direct service programs that expand access to clean syringes and to advance advocacy efforts directed at local and state level policy change.
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, New York, NY, $100,000
A unique opportunity exists in 2009 to take an important step toward a more effective and evidence-based approach to HIV prevention in the United States: removal of the ban on use of federal funds for syringe exchange. President Obama has signaled his desire to remove the ban, both during the campaign and through comments by his staff when the Administration’s budget proposal was released in May 2009. More than 100 members of Congress have co-sponsored legislation to remove the ban, and a recently compiled vote count of members of the House of Representatives indicates broad support for removal of the ban. Realizing this opportunity will require sound evidence and sustained advocacy both on Capitol Hill and in the Congressional districts of House and Senate members who have not yet decided whether to support an end to the ban. This grant will enable amfAR to significantly increase its advocacy work and continue to fund policy-relevant research on syringe exchange programs (SEPs) in the US. Specifically, amfAR plans to launch a grassroots advocacy campaign that conveys the public health benefit of SEPs to these undecided, or tentatively supportive, Representatives and Senators and to continue to support the National Syringe Exchange Survey, conducted by Dr. Don Des Jarlais at the Beth Israel Medical Center, which collects vital information about SEPs and how they operate. The expanded scope of work for this project to include both the survey and related advocacy was initiated by EJAF to increase our impact and leadership in this field.
AEGiS, San Juan Capistrano, CA, $50,000
AEGiS is an open access, Internet based ‘living’ HIV/AIDS library. The website provides current research information, human resources, treatment, prevention, product, and policy information, with worldwide news and event coverage. The documents contained in the living library chronicle the history of HIV/AIDS. Information is organized in sections by publication type, with clearly stated sources, authors and publication dates. AEGiS’ broad scope of information elucidates the human experiences and reactions related to HIV/AIDS. Objectives: (1) Maintain computer equipment-the gateway to the AEGiS database; (2) Provide access to a wealth of HIV/AIDS history and knowledge; (3) Perpetually include the latest information on all aspects of HIV/AIDS in chronological order with the highest set of Internet standards to ensure clarity for site visitors; (4) Present data from the most recent scientific meetings and those from the past to improve the general public’s access to this information and data; (5) Offer services by facilitating access to HIV specialists to assure competent care and accurate health information; (6) Connect site visitors to specific on-line resources, local walk-in AIDS services, and related organizations for support; and (7) Provide individual answers to site visitors’ queries requesting information. All services are conducted with the purpose of providing educational information regarding HIV/AIDS.
AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), Chicago, IL, $25,000
This grant will support the International Rectal Microbicide Advocates’ (IRMA) global advocacy across six continents. Since AFC launched IRMA with three other North American partners in 2005, this coalition has grown to include more than 800 scientists, advocates, and policy makers promoting the research and development of safe, effective, and acceptable rectal microbicides for the women and men who need them. Through concerted global advocacy, IRMA has brought visibility, legitimacy, and respect to the emerging rectal microbicide development field and set the stage for researchers to develop these new, lifesaving tools more quickly and effectively. Thanks to support from EJAF in FY09, IRMA further expanded its reach and capacity, forming a close strategic collaboration with the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC); supporting the launch of a sister organization in Latin America, IRMA – ALC (América Latina y El Caribe, based in Lima, Peru) and in Africa through the launch of IRMA-Nigeria; and increasing its global membership by 60% since 2006. During this time, UCLA completed and reported on the first Phase I human rectal safety trial, and up to three additional Phase I rectal safety studies are about to begin. In FY10, AFC sees great potential for the rectal microbicides field, as there has never been more global recognition or support for the development of these new prevention tools.
International Center for Research on Women, Washington, DC, $20,000
This grant supports ICRW’s efforts to launch the Global Knowledge Network on HIV Stigma Reduction, which will serve as a mechanism for researchers, programmers and advocates to share information and tools, build capacity of network members and coordinate and expand research, intervention and advocacy strategies for reducing HIV stigma and discrimination worldwide. The funds for this activity will contribute to a 4-month planning process to define the structure and functioning of a Global Knowledge Network on HIV Stigma Reduction and develop a proposal and budget to support the network’s core aims and activities by supporting: (1) the participation of 5 experts with demonstrated experience in HIV stigma-reduction programming in a small, 2-day working meeting to be held at the end of the planning process; and (2) ICRW staff time to facilitate the participation of experts and incorporate their feedback into the final proposal and budget. The impetus for this activity springs from the consensus among global stigma experts at the MAC AIDS Fund/ICRW Meeting on HIV Stigma held on November 17th, 2008 – that the creation of a knowledge network on HIV stigma would mobilize and maximize investments in stigma reduction globally, thereby strengthening the global response to HIV.
Ms. Foundation for Women, New York, NY, $50,000
Through the National Women and AIDS Collective (NWAC) and the Women and AIDS Fund (WAF) the Ms. Foundation for Women raises the visibility of HIV-positive women as policy experts, building their power to secure changes at the local, state and national level. In 2009-10, the Foundation will accomplish this through grant making, technical assistance and networking opportunities, including approximately $300,000 dollars in grants to 10-12 local and state-based partners. The Ms. Foundation will also provide infrastructure and capacity building resources to NWAC, and host the only annual national women and AIDS advocacy conference in the US. Grantee partners and NWAC will be working locally and at the national level: for example, grantee HIV Law Project, with NWAC, will evaluate public health laws in communities nationwide to identify those that leave women vulnerable to discriminatory HIV/AIDS policies, and help grantee partners in these communities effect needed policy changes. Further, the Ms. Foundation will continue to support NWAC by providing a full-time staff position (NWAC Organizer) and operations and capacity building resources, while continuing to move forward in the transition process that will ensure that NWAC can continue to grow independently in the coming years.
Treatment Action Group (TAG), New York, NY, $20,000
Requested funding will be used to support three critical TAG programs: (1) Antiretroviral Program; (2) HIV/Hepatitis Coinfection Program; and (3) U.S. & Global Health Policy Program. These programs, in concert with TAG’s other two programs (TB/HIV Coinfection Program and the Basic Science, Vaccines and Prevention Program) work together to provide TAG’s various stakeholders with the most up-to-date treatment information. TAG’s overarching initiatives are to increase length and quality of life among all people with HIV until a vaccine and a cure are available. TAG does this through: (1) Community education and mobilization; (2) Coordinating and mobilizing peers and HIV advocates and activists to present a united front in advocating with government for more funding and better research agendas; (3) Publishing information that arms people living with HIV and their caregivers with the latest treatment information so they can advocate for the best possible care; and (4) Ensuring drug trials are safe, effective, ethical and include the priorities of people living with HIV and coinfections.
