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ADAP Watch: AIDS Drug Wait List Grows to 5,550
Last week the wait list to receive lifesaving AIDS medication through the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Programs grew to 5,550 people across 10 states.
The number of people waiting to receive medication through state-run AIDS drug programs has increased more than 3,500 percent since August 2009, according to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. The federal government has reacted with little urgency, however, allotting just $25 million in additional dollars to the program.
To help readers keep tabs on the growing ADAP crisis, we will now post the ADAP Watch—the document that tracks increasing cuts to the program—each Monday, and include it in our Friday morning newsletter.
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Non-Profits Are Often Non-“Profits”
_Originally Posted by Brad Ogilvie from The William Penn House and The Mosaic Initiative
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining” – John F. Kennedy. This isn’t prophecy. It’s simply looking forward. And it’s something AIDS-organizations as they have become institutional are less and less able to do.
There was news out of Chicago recently that one of the older HIV/AIDS organizations, Better Existence with HIV (BE-HIV) was closing its doors. Cited as two main reasons: decreased contributions and a shift in the funding from government sources that flow through AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC). What fairly-quickly ensued was a defensive announcement from AFC that HIV/AIDS organizations and their boards …
Posted on January 21, 2011 at 7:43 pm
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NYC Health Department Refuses to Pull Grisly Prevention Video
On Thursday, NYC Department of Health’s Dr. Monica Sweeney continued to defend the contentious HIV prevention video that many activists called offensive and sensationalistic when it debuted on TV in December.
“We need to think of all the possible ways . . . to get people’s attention, because HIV definitely isn’t on the front page anymore, at least not until this ad came out,” she said, speaking to an audience of more than 100 people at a crowded Ryan White Planning Council meeting in Manhattan.
She rebuffed comments—made in the past two months and at the meeting—that the ad stigmatizes gay men. “There’s nothing in the ad that says anything about anybody being gay,” she said.
A …
Posted on January 21, 2011 at 12:15 am
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Can Medicaid Reform Happen in a New York Minute?
New Yorkers talk fast, walk fast and eat fast. And some seem to believe they can do something else fast—jump-start a serious overhaul of the state’s budget-eating Medicaid program by spending less than two months soliciting reform ideas from interested parties.
Since Andrew Cuomo took the governor’s chair in January, his office has pledged to make Medicaid reform an open process. Indeed, his office has set up a web site to solicit input from those who deal with Medicaid, and has arranged seven public forums around the state.
What’s been given short shrift, however, is that his Medicaid redesign team has a mere 46 days from the date of its first meeting to collect comments and deliver an initial budget-saving proposal on …
Posted on January 20, 2011 at 5:37 pm
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Op-Ed: In Mississippi, Comprehensive Sex Ed Can’t Wait
by Luke Versher
As a field organizer at AIDS Action in Mississippi, Versher galvanizes his community to push for policy changes that create a healthier state. He’s been living with HIV for more than 20 years.
Mississippi state legislators have before them three bills—SB 2135, SB 2222 and HB 507—that would allow our school districts to provide medically factual, comprehensive, age-appropriate information about sex. The legislation would ensure that our teens learn how to make healthy decisions about waiting to have intercourse—and that they know how to use contraception, prevent unintended pregnancy and avoid sexually transmitted infections once they decide to engage.
For the health and safety of our children, it is imperative that Mississippi’s legislators pass these bills.
Why? The …
Posted on January 20, 2011 at 3:13 pm
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Uptown, Down Under: A Tennis Tournament Benefiting Housing Works
G’day, mate! Join Team Housing Works this Monday, January 24th for an Australian-Open-themed, round-robin doubles tennis tournament fundraiser at Roosevelt Island Racquet Club to support Housing Works.
To sign up or learn more about creative ways to help raise funds for Housing Works, check out www.housingworks.org/fundraising
Posted on January 19, 2011 at 9:04 pm
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Volunteering With Housing Works This February
We hope everyone enjoyed their New Year – but we hope you’ll enjoy our new issue of our Volunteer Newsletter even more! January has been an exciting month for us between “Rolling-Out” our new and improved Housing Works’ Volunteer Program to taking part in advocacy events like the Haiti Earthquake Anniversary March and Rally in NYC. We’ve got high hopes for 2011 and can’t wait to see what it has in store for us here at HW. Check out our recently added Volunteer Opportunities for some new and interesting ways to get involved with our organization and please join us for our next Information Session for prospective volunteers on Tuesday, February 1st at 6:30pm at 594 Broadway on the 7th floor. Cheers!
…Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:06 pm
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Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities
DATA ENTRY VOLUNTEERS
What: We have roughly 500 paper forms from the HW voting survey that need to be entered into the program “Survey Monkey”. Each survey instrument only takes about 2 to 3 minutes to enter, and since the instrument is web-based this work can be done from any computer with internet access.
When: Immediately!
Where: 57 Willoughby Street, Brooklyn 2nd Floor
Contact: volunteer@housingworks.orgTHRIFT SHOPS WAREHOUSE VOLUNTEERS
What: We need help bar-coding, tagging and assisting our hard-working PDC staff at our thrift shops warehouse
When: Throughout the month of January
Where: Thrift Shops Warehouse, 4849 35th Street, Long Island City
Contact: Ira Botor Botor@housingworks.orgPosted on January 18, 2011 at 11:04 pm
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