Three Dallas-based nonprofits were awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding to expand HIV prevention and treatment, in a city with one of the highest HIV rates in Texas.<\/p>\n
The nonprofits received up to $400,000 each to expand prevention models led by community health workers. The two-year grants are part of a larger initiative that includes more than 30 organizations across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not something that can be solved by one organization,\u201d said Sonya Radtke, the Chief Development Officer at Resource Center<\/a>, an HIV and AIDS service organization in North Texas. \u201cWe can’t do this alone, so we just want to be that hub of resources to be able to connect people to affirming events and opportunities in their backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n The grants came from the Gilead Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the major pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n Radtke said Dallas County has the second highest population of people living with HIV, and Black and brown communities are disproportionately affected. She said there\u2019s a \u201ccomplicated web\u201d of factors that contribute to disparities in Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that really requires a diverse set of solutions,\u201d Radtke said.<\/p>\n Radtke said the funding will support existing programs that provide a wide range of services and solutions \u2014 like community wellness programs and a mobile clinic. The organization\u2019s goal is to serve at least 3,000 community members with the funding.<\/p>\n Among other things, Resource Center provides HIV testing<\/a>, as well as resources based on the results of the test. If someone learns they don\u2019t have HIV, Resource Center can connect them to community programs and even PrEP \u2014 a medication<\/a> that prevents about 99% of HIV infections<\/a>, Radtke said. If someone does find out they have an HIV diagnosis, Radtke said they\u2019re \u201cimmediately connected\u201d to treatment and resources.<\/p>\n Patients, regardless of their HIV status, also have access to health counseling and support and community programs.<\/p>\n \u201cHIV prevention is really woven through everything,\u201d Radtke said. \u201cIt’s something that we really wanted to normalize as part of routine care and make sure that people have access to the information and the resources needed to stay HIV free, or if you do have HIV to be able to manage that and live a thriving life.\u201d<\/p>\n Resource Center is one five Texas organizations to receive funding from the Gilead Foundation initiative.<\/p>\n Abounding Prosperity, another Dallas-based HIV and STI clinic<\/a>, also received a grant, as did Laredo-based clinic, PILLAR<\/a>, and Allies in Hope<\/a> in Houston<\/a> \u2014 the oldest AIDS Service Organization in Texas. Jared Baeten, senior vice president of clinical development and virology therapeutic area head at Gilead Sciences, said the awards were focused on areas that have been identified in the U.S. as \u201cending the HIV epidemic priority.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s about 50 counties around the country that are identified as priority areas for ending HIV because they’re disproportionately affected,\u201d he said. \u201cThese awards operate at the confluence of where there is need, but also where there are organizations that have the capacity…\u00a0and the plan for measurable outcomes to affect the kind of impact everybody wants.\u201d<\/p>\n Baeten said community-based organizations know what their communities need and how to provide locally attentive care.<\/p>\n For some, that meant using the funding to address a gap in the community \u2014 at a critical moment<\/a> in which HIV funding and services<\/a> are encountering increasing instability<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Texas and New York received the most awards among the 14 states included in the $12 million initiative.<\/p>\n