AIDS United Provides Support to HIV Organizations in Hurricane Areas

WASHINGTON D.C. – October 12, 2017. Organizations serving the HIV community in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico have received more than $190,000 in combined funding to help them meet the needs of people living with and affected by HIV in communities damaged by this year’s hurricanes affecting Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The funding will be used to support a range of services including housing, safe food and water, medicine, and care.

In September, AIDS United announced creation of the HIV Hurricane Relief Effort to support community-based organizations serving people in areas damaged by the recent Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The effort is supported, in part, by the Southern HIV Impact Fund, a collaborative effort coordinated by Funders Concerned About AIDS, and established with support from Gilead Sciences, Ford Foundation, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, and ViiV Healthcare. The relief effort has also received generous support from a range of national, corporate and individual donors, and the effort is promoted widely through partnership with NMAC, NASTAD, The AIDS Institute and the National Coalition of STD Directors. An advisory panel of stakeholders for each affected region was jointly appointed by NMAC and AIDS United to identify priority needs for funding.

“People living in the path of these storms have had their lives turned upside down. They have lost apartments, jobs, and medications and struggle in the midst of this crisis to take care of their health. These organizations have stepped forward to offer help and hope and we are proud to support them,” said Jesse Milan Jr., president and chief executive officer of AIDS United.

To date, AIDS United has received 35 applications and expects to make new awards soon. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis. The funds awarded to date total more than $190,000 and include the following among others:

• AIDS Foundation Houston (Houston, Texas) is helping people living with HIV with rehousing needs, transportation vouchers, car repairs and food assistance.
• Abounding Prosperity, Inc. (Dallas, Texas) is providing services and support to people living with HIV who are displaced from the Houston area and who have gone to Dallas.
• Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas Foundation (Beaumont, Texas) is distributing hotel gift certificates to displaced people, along with food bank vouchers and transportation assistance.
• Big Bend Cares (Tallahassee, Florida) is helping clients with housing, food and medicine lost in the storm.
• Bill’s Kitchen (San Juan, Puerto Rico) is providing safe food, clean water and undamaged housing to clients, and replacing computers to ensure medical records are accessible and secure.
• Fundación Latinoamericana De Accion Social, Inc. (Houston, Texas) will provide mattresses, furniture, clothing, and cleaning supplies to people living with HIV.
• Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc. (Plantation, Florida) will assist clients who do not currently have access to federal funds from the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) program.
• Mount Olive Development Corporation (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) will provide meals for people living with HIV in their housing facilities.
• Positive Efforts, Inc. (Houston, Texas) will create tailored emergency care packages, disperse gas and bus cards, and purchase school supplies for the children of clients.
• The Poverello Center (Wilton Manors, Florida) will help their clients obtain groceries to replace food lost during the hurricane.
• Triangle Area Network (Beaumont, Texas) is assisting with rental and utility deposits for people who were displaced by the hurricanes, and financially supporting the medical costs for people without health insurance.

About AIDS United: AIDS United’s mission is to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. through strategic grant-making, capacity building, formative research and policy. AIDS United works to ensure access to life-saving HIV/AIDS care and prevention services and to advance sound HIV/AIDS-related policy for U.S. populations and communities most impacted by the epidemic. To date, our strategic grant-making initiatives have directly funded more than $104 million to local communities, and have leveraged more than $117 million in additional investments for programs that include, but are not limited to HIV prevention, access to care, capacity building, harm reduction and advocacy. To learn more, please visit www.aidsunited.org.