News and Resources
The American Rescue Plan, a step forward toward ending the epidemic
On March 11, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan. This plan provides major benefits including $1,400 in stimulus checks, the expansion of unemployment benefits through Sept. 6, 2021 and more than $20 billion in emergency rental assistance. While these items benefit many, our policy team walks us through the specifics of how this bill impacts people living with and vulnerable to HIV.
Putting Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV into action for Black women and girls as we #StopHIVTogether
Around National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we caught up with LaTrischa Miles to learn more about her work and how we can center Black women and girls in our work to stop HIV together.
Learning opportunities with AIDS United’s Midwest Capacity Building Assistance team
Throughout the month of March, AIDS United’s Midwest Capacity Building Assistance program will offer a variety of no-cost learning and engagement opportunities for health departments and their community partners across the region.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use drugs
Calculating the true damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a difficult task. We can note that more than 519,000 Americans have died due to complications from COVID-19 over the past year, but that number does not reflect all of the death and undue suffering this virus and our nation’s response have caused.
Congressional Community Project Funding: How new rules can benefit HIV organizations.
The House Committee on Appropriations has recently announced new rules for community project funding. This process, also known as earmarking or pork-barrel spending, is the often misunderstood and disparaged funding process of inserting provisions into appropriations bills that allow for the direct funding of certain projects. This means that these funding recipients will not have to respond to requests for proposals to receive federal dollars.
A reflection from AIDS United’s Zamora Fellow on centering racial justice in ending the epidemic
Zamora Public Policy fellow Jake Soria reflects on the importance of centering racial justice in ending the epidemic. Through uplifting the voices of black community members, we can begin to have the needed conversations on how to prioritize Black leaders in HIV advocacy and create effective strategies for ensuring that BIPOC communities are receiving the treatment necessary to result in equitable health outcomes and an end to the HIV epidemic by 2025.
Senate confirmations that HIV advocates have been waiting for
The current crises of COVID-19 and HIV have not made as much progress as we would have hoped, especially considering that there have been delays in getting leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services. AIDS United’s policy team has been watching closely, including key confirmation hearings for HHS leadership.
Syringe Access Fund Awards Advocacy Grant to Indiana and Oklahoma Harm Reduction Programs
The Syringe Access Fund is excited to announce the awarding of two advocacy grants, totaling $100,000 each, to the Indiana Recovery Alliance and the Oklahoma Harm Reduction Alliance. These organizations are committed to expanding comprehensive harm reduction services to people who use drugs, including syringe exchange services, primary care, testing and treatment for HIV and viral hepatitis, and linkage to medication for opioid use disorder and substance use disorder treatment.
Five Things People Living With HIV Need to Know About the Next COVID Package
While we are still awaiting the official bill text from the House Budget Committee, there are several items that we are watching in this next round of COVID relief. We anticipate this bill will closely resemble the $1.9 trillion package that President Biden outlined, but this bill is likely to face hurdles passing the Senate.
Black Sex Workers’ History is Black History
This Black History Month, we celebrate the work of Gloria Lockett, the founder of CAL-PEP and a longtime advocate for sex workers. From the earliest days of the HIV epidemic, Lockett worked to ensure sex workers had resources tailored for them.